


Thank You For The Venom

by Waruitenshi



Series: Thank You For The Venom [1]
Category: Disney - All Media Types, Marvel, Marvel (Movies), Spider-Man (Movieverse), Spider-Man - All Media Types, Venom (Comics)
Genre: Acceptance, Action, Alien Biology, Alien Character(s), Alien Romance, Alien Sex, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst and Romance, Attention Starved, Awkward Sexual Situations, Awkwardness, Bathing/Washing, Best Friends, Biting, Black Cat - Freeform, Blood, Blood Drinking, Blood and Violence, Bloodplay, Blushing, Bonding, Childhood Friends, Childhood Trauma, Claiming, Comedy, Comfort, Crime Fighting, Cuddling & Snuggling, Cute, Declarations Of Love, Developing Relationship, Doctor/Patient, Drama & Romance, Dysfunctional Family, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, F/M, Falling In Love, Family Feels, Family Secrets, Female Anti-Hero, First Date, First Time, Fluff, French Kissing, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Funny, Green Goblin - Freeform, Honesty, Humor, Implied Slash, Impregnation, Incubation, Inflation, Insanity, Insecurities, Jealousy, Killing, Kissing, Language, Licking, Light Masochism, Light Sadism, Loneliness, Loss of Innocence, Loss of Virginity, Love Bites, Love Triangle, M/M, MJ Bashing, Male-Female Friendship, Marking, Massage, Mating, Mental Health Issues, Mental Instability, Mild Gore, Mood Swings, Multi, Mutant, Nudity, OC, Other, Oviposition, Pancakes, Panties, Penetration, Porn With Plot, Possessive Behavior, Possessiveness, Protectiveness, Psychological Torture, Psychological Trauma, Randomness, Reluctant Sadist, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Sexual Content, Sexual Tension, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow To Update, Soulmates, Spider-Man 3, Spidey Bashing, Spidey getting spanked, Suggestive Themes, Superpowers, Symbiote - Freeform, Symbiotic Relationship, Telepathic Bond, Tentacles, Threesome - F/M/Other, Touch-Starved, Touching, Touchy-Feely, Trauma, Twisted and Fluffy Feelings, Violence, Virginity, bashing, lots of black and green
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-09-14
Updated: 2014-11-18
Packaged: 2017-11-14 05:16:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 40
Words: 132,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/511716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Waruitenshi/pseuds/Waruitenshi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is my version of the ending to the Spider-Man 3 movie as I disliked how the series went. It takes place during the fight scene at the end and continues on after it. Harry lives and is now in the hospital and ends up in the care of the mysterious and charming Dr. Rose Aconitum, while the Venom symbiote managed to survive and is on the look out for a new host!  Some MJ Bashing for reasons of my own. And Gwen as the Black Cat! More details inside. Harry/OC Rose/Venom Symbiote are the main pairing. Love Triangle-ish! There will be some sub-pairings. Rated M to be safe.</p><p>Or in which Harry is his adorably attention starved, sociopathic self with comical moments, moodswings and a bunch of other fun stuff! And the symbiote finds a new host that it not only likes but likes it as well!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Making Fiends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the symbiote finds a new host!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I obviously do NOT own Spider-Man. I DO HOWEVER Own my OC's (that's Original Characters). 
> 
> Author Notes (also referred to as A/N): Hello reader! Whoever or whatever or where ever you may be! Wait… uhm… what was I gonna say..? Ooooh yeah… Annnywho! This randomly popped into my head so I figured it would be fun to write. Oh and also the title is based off of the name of a song "Thank You For The Venom" by My Chemical Romance, which in a way goes along kinda well with this fanfic in some parts. XD I seem to be on a bit of a Super Hero/Super Villain kick right now Lmfao! Then again when aren't I? The answer is I am ALWAYS on a villain/anti-hero kick!
> 
> Now that THAT is out of the way! I just want to make sure one thing is VERY clear. THIS version of Spider-Man is strictly the movievsere version. NOT NOT NOOOOOOT the comic book version or the one from any of the cartoons. This is the lame Spidey from the movies who annoyed the heck out of me with his uber lameness. XD Okay? Personally, I actually like Spider-Man in SOME versions that I have seen of him in; like the cartoons, etc. However, I do NOT like the movie version. SO I am making fun of him some and doing some bashing. I hope this clears things up for those who may be Spidey fans that did not understand this. Okay? Okay then! XD This is my first time using this site, as I am used to the format on FF. So please be gentle! 
> 
> Warnings: There WILL be Mary Jane bashing because she deserves it Lmfao and some Spidey Bashing. So yeah… XD Hmm… I've no idea yet what other warnings I should put so just beware! ~Plays "DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUN" music as thunder roars and lightening flashes in background, and evil old lady who appears out of no where who cackles evilly while petting an ugly, fat white cat who is wearing an eye patch.~ Yep! But I don't think there's gonna be anything bad… Of course this is only MY OPINION sooooooooo…. Yeah I'm bored of this. ON WITH THE FANFIC! Kuwahahahahahahahahahah!

 

  
  

 

It had all started out so awesomely when he had found that strange, alluring black substance, that now called itself Venom… but now… he realized just how wrong he had been, and that the consequences of his actions would prove to be most surprising.

First he messed up everything with Mary Jane, and they broke up, then he uses poor Gwen to make MJ jealous and angers both women, he finds out that the symbiote suit he'd been wearing was making him behave in such a negative way, and that it could be harmful to him.

THEN, the Sandman kidnaps Mary Jane and… ugh, the list of horrible things just kept piling up! And, when it seemed like things were at their worst, his ex-best friend Harry, comes to the rescue at the right moment in his guise as Green Goblin Jr. to save him and MJ! And Peter thinks just for the tiniest moment that things are starting to look up… until Harry ends up getting mortally wounded!

At least he managed to get the suit off of that nut job Eddie, but the guy gets blasted by the bomb he meant for the symbiote! He supposed he couldn't save everyone… With MJ's help, he managed to get Harry; whom he striped of his costume, to the Kane Hospital, since that's where he told them to take him. There Harry was thankfully tended to properly.

Of course he and Mary Jane had to get some treatment too. When Peter was done getting treated, he went to go and check on Harry; whose condition had been the most critical… Upon speaking to a nurse at the front desk to find out what happened to Harry, did he get his answer.

"Oh no need to worry. We have called in our best physician for the job! As a matter of fact your friend is in surgery right now. Please take a seat and wait. It will be a while."

The secret superhero felt so relieved and yet even more worried about whether or not Harry would live through the surgery. He didn't know what he would do if his buddy ended up dying after all of this. Most likely he would've felt it was all his fault, which in a way it was… All of this was.

Well enough of the depressing woes of Peter Parker! Time to see what a certain symbiote is doing both before and during all of this!

Now of course, during all of the commotion of the fight, a bunch of people had crowded around and had been watching the scene play out. A certain young woman by the name of Rose Aconitum, had been on her way home that evening from grocery shopping when she casually noticed the many people blocking her path on the street. She heaved a sigh and without shifting her gaze from her path, she took a couple of steps to the left as a cinderblock landed in the exact spot where she'd been standing a moment ago.

Unfazed by that, she calmly turned her attention to what was going on up above and saw a guy, similar to the black suited version of Spider-Man, shooting webs and fighting with the original red and blue Spider-Man and also there appeared to be some other guy made of sand and one in a green and black outfit, who were also in the fray.

' _Ugh, great. Just what I need… A bunch of morons flinging construction material everywhere and damaging my quick route home…'_

Rose glanced down to the crumbled cinderblock at her feet to see that it had shattered the sidewalk, and after a quick survey of the area and the crowd of people; who had begun screaming and running around to avoid getting hit by stuff, she knew that this area would probably be soon blocked off for a few weeks to get repaired when this was all over. Ugh, how inconvenient.

She shook her head and decided that if she couldn't get through this crowd of morons that she would just have to go around. But this of course meant going around the construction site.

Taking a gander at the new path which she would need to take' that wasn't blocked off by police and civilian vehicles, did she see an opening that was occupied with busy police officers. But they were too busy running around trying to maintain everything to notice much else.

The fight above and falling objects didn't bother her one bit, but it was really late and she was just tired from having to work late and wanted to go home, eat and go to bed; which explained why having to make her journey home even longer was irksome.

After pushing a few people out of the way, she managed to make it to the construction site and she thus started on her path by slipping between the police blockades; which in her opinion where just idiotic pieces of flimsy wood with reflectors and not a blockade at all, and heading down the sidewalk on the outside of the construction sites large fence.

As Rose was walking by however, a loud, screech and a ringing sound met her ears and made her look up out of curiosity. She saw Spider-Man hitting some metal pipes with the ones he had in his hands.

The guy in black was making such a strange screeching sound that it hurt her ears, but she was unable to cover them because her arms were holding the bag of groceries. Then, she saw Spider-Man surround his opponent with these pipes and start banging on them until the black suit appeared to melt off of the guy, before Spider-Man picked up something and threw it at the black mass that seemed to be trying to attack him!

The man who had been wearing the black suit screamed something and leapt at the black mass and then BAM! There was an explosion of black and green! And a small amount of black matter seemed to spray off of the higher level and fly upward above her head. She raised a curious brow but then decided to continue on home before any of that stuff fell on her.

It took her longer than she would have liked but she smiled tiredly when she entered her simple apartment.

"Thank goodness! I'm freakin' starving!" She spoke aloud to herself. Rose lived alone and was quite happy with her solitude.

With the relief of being home she found a little spring in her step and a little burst of energy that allowed her to put her groceries away. She then took off her black denim jean jacket and hung it up on the hook beside the door before she went to her bathroom to take a nice hot, soothing shower.

Rose dressed in her comfy clothing which comprised of baggy, grey pajama pants with bats on them, and an equally roomy light grey cotton shirt, and then she went to the kitchen to go and make dinner. She glanced out the window as she passed and realized that the sun was rising. The young woman laughed that her dinner was more brinner (breakfast/dinner) than anything, so she made herself some eggs and bacon with toast and a lemon-lime soda, and sat down on her couch in front of the TV to eat it.

She turned on the TV to watch some news before growing bored within the first five seconds because it was all about Spider-Man.

"Pfft, seen it." And so she changed it to some cartoons instead. Pulling a blanket over her lower half, did she enjoy her meal and animated entertainment.

Once she was done eating she stretched and yawned before getting up and going to wash her dishes, then to her bathroom to get cleaned up and get some shut eye. Oh, how she loved her bed and pillow. They were always there for her.

Her bed was so cozy and inviting while her pillow was plush and huggable! Rose threw herself down onto the mattress and buried herself under the blankets to snuggle her pillow and drift off into what she hoped was a long and peaceful sleep!

But, unfortunately today was just not her day. Just as she had been about to close her eyes, she saw something move from outside of her room to behind the little wastebasket beside her desk.

She decided to pretend to go to sleep and ever so slowly closed her eyes. Then she heard it ever so faintly…. Something was moving, and the sound was getting closer and closer, until finally… In the same moment, her eyes snapped open as she reached her hand out and caught whatever it was!

In a quick motion; she jumped out of bed, went to her desk and quickly emptied out the glass mason jar she used to hold writing utensils, and flung the thing she'd been holding into the jar before covering the top of it with a heavy book which she held firmly down.

Now that she had finished all of that, she was able to take her time to better examine what the heck it was. After all, her room was pretty dark since she had the curtains closed and such. So, she reached over and turned on her desk light.

Whatever it was, it looked gooey and black as pitch. The amorphous little blob squirmed and tried to get out of the jar, but to no avail. Then her eyes widened in realization! It was that black gunk that had come off of the guy Spider-Man had been fighting!

The young woman surmised that whatever had managed to fly up into the sky when it was blown up must have fallen on her after all, either that or it landed ahead of her and somehow crawled onto her jacket then.

She then began to wonder if it was good or bad. It _had_ tried to jump her just a moment ago, not to mention it attacked Spider-Man… But then Rose thought that it probably needed to be on someone to survive… Like a symbiotic creature.

Hmm, that must be why that guy had it on him, and then of course Rose figured out that this thing must have been on Spider-Man too! That explains why his suit was black. It's the exact same shade as what was in the jar.

So, if it was on both a villain and a super hero… Then it might not have either affinity for good or evil, but instead be more of a neutral creature. Well, that was all good and well to theorize, but that didn't really answer any of her questions.

Time for some real hands on field work she supposed. She leaned down so that her face was right in front of the jar and gently tapped the glass to get its attention.

"Hey in there. I need to speak to you." Suddenly the erratic movement and escape attempts ceased and the black substance looked more like a jar of black molasses as it stilled. She smiled a little and began to speak in a calm and polite tone.

"Thank you. Now, I mean you no harm and I hope you mean me no harm as well. I don't think your evil so, I will let you out of the jar. So please move slowly and be not hostile toward me. I apologize if I offended you by putting you in this jar, but it looked like you were trying to attack me. Well, anyways. Here goes." She then stood and took a step back as she cautiously removed the book from the top of the jar; setting it on the table as she did so and waited.

The black blob didn't move for a couple of seconds, then it tentatively stretched out a few thin tendrils and pulled itself from out of the glass prison, where it lowered itself onto the table. It then stayed still on that spot; as if it were staring at her and waiting to see what happened next.

"If you can understand me, wiggle once for yes and twice for no." The blob then gave one wiggle.

"Good. If you are attached to your host, can you communicate with the host?" It gave one wiggle.

"Do you cause any harm to your host?" It didn't move and seemed to be contemplating.

"I'm guessing that needs specification… If I am your host will you cause any harm to me?" It gave two wiggles and her eyebrows furrowed thoughtfully.

"If I am your host, will I still have control over my own mind and body?" It gave one vigorous wiggle; as if it was getting excited.

"Well, I'm guessing we won't be able to fully understand each other until you attach yourself to me… So, I'll allow it." And with that she reached out her hand and the black blob wasted no time in hopping onto her hand and attaching itself to her!

It was very strange; hundreds and thousands of tiny black tendrils began appearing from the blob in the palm of her hand to cover her body. It would smooth out ever so sleekly as it all meshed together and became whole. In a matter of seconds her entire body was covered and she suddenly felt the creature connecting with her body and mind; which is indeed a _weird_ sensation.

' _Ah, it's so good to have a host again! For a while, we didn't think we'd make it…'_ Came a strange voice from inside her head. It carried that same hissing tone as when one whispers, but it was loud enough for her to hear perfectly.

"Well hello there. My name is Rose, and who and what might you be?" She asked out loud, as coolly as ever.

' _We are now Venom! We are a symbiote and now we will be one!'_ It said in a rather giddy tone.

"I see. So your name is Venom… I suppose by "we" you mean you and I, and you speak in such a way to show that we will soon be bonded? Hmm, you certainly are a symbiotic being, or a symbiote as you put it. Very well, but I am still to be referred to by my name if you don't mind." There was a pause of consideration on Venom's part and it's tone conveyed pouting.

' _Fine…'_ She smiled some and went to lay back in bed, finding it's desire for her to refer to them as one to be rather cute.

"If you don't mind, could you please allow me to go back to being in my PJ's? I require sleep." She didn't even have to look at her arm to know that black substance was now changing into the clothing she had worn earlier, except the shirt was now black. She wasn't sure what it did to her real pajama's but she decided not to ask.

"Thank you, Venom." She yawned and closed her eyes. The symbiote stayed silent and she finally drifted off into a deep sleep. But of course she ended up dreaming that she was in a room of black. The walls were moving and resembled the black blob.

"I suppose this means that now we are going to have a more in depth conversation?" Rose asked as she looked around nonchalantly. Suddenly the black on the walls moved and took on the more humanoid form that she had seen earlier when the symbiote was attached to that guy.

"Indeed it does. We certainly are an interesting person Rose, we cannot seem to make the full connection to our mind and become one. Why is this?" Venom asked as it slowly encircled the space around her; eyeing her with those white eyes with such predatory fascination.

"I don't need anyone snooping around in my head. If you want to know something just ask and if you feel like sharing your information with me that's fine too. You seem to have already uploaded most of what you know into my head." Rose said as she raised her hand and snapped her fingers.

Suddenly, what looked like a television screen appeared and on it played the images of some guy named Peter Parker and how he was Spider-Man, and everything that progressed thereafter. Even the part where Venom tried to use Eddie to get revenge on Spider-Man just a while ago. It played by rather quickly, but nevertheless she, absorbed and understood most of which she'd bothered with; as it was a lot to go over and she was not in the mood for it.

"It would seem you crave revenge upon this Peter Parker person… I can understand that. He was your first host and he spurned your partnership. I know you still care for him though, I can feel your longing to be with him once more… Although I am sorry to say dear Venom, that he will not bond with you." The symbiote suddenly looked very dejected and turned away from her.

It was true, the ambiguous being did care for that stupid Parker fellow. But even so, Venom felt betrayed beyond words and knew the truth to what Rose said; that's why it had become Venom in the first place. It didn't want to go back to Peter, and yet there was still a tiny part of it that did.

The young woman looked rather concerned and slowly approached the symbiote and wrapped her arms loosely around it's waist in a hug.

"You needn't feel so lonely and abandoned though, for I am here now. And I will be your partner if that is what you would like. Not all firsts work out as we want them to..."

Venom slowly turned around to face her and Rose smiled kindly up into those white eyes to regard her; rather stunned.

"Try as you might, he is not the right person for you. If he was, then he would have accepted you and been bound as your host. Since this is not the case, why don't you make a fresh start with me instead? After all, I offered myself to you willingly and with the knowledge of what you are. Whereas, I can see that even when he learned what you were, he did not want you. That is why he reacted so negatively wasn't it?" Venom's eyes widened in shock. How understanding and clever this human was… How was it that this human is so capable of figuring out such things when that Parker boy was supposed to have been so bright?

Perhaps… She was right when she said Peter Parker was not the right host? Then again Venom had simply attached itself to whatever human was closest by at the time, so it wasn't really like either the symbiote or Parker had much of a choice in the matter…

It was pensive for a while, but then it gave a slow nod and Rose smiled in understanding. And suddenly Venom felt the human open up her mind just enough for it to realize that she really did empathize. But it couldn't see or read her thoughts, for Rose had simply allowed it to share the feelings from her memories; instead of the tale behind them.

Such a controlled life form this new host seemed. Venom clutched it's chest where a heart would be on a human, and cringed at such a mixture of horrible feelings she had felt, flooding into it's own mind. They were of sadness, unspeakable agony, disappointment, hopelessness, anger, betrayal, abandonment and loneliness…

What had this Rose gone through that felt so unspeakably horrid?! The symbiote shared all of these feelings, for it too suffered from them. It would seem it found a kindred spirit in this human. And though Rose stayed silent as the grave, her pale grey eyes filled with knowing and understanding.

"It's all right… Neither of us has to decide everything now. Let's just stay together until we know what we want. Sound good?" The young woman reached out her hand and after a short pause, Venom reached out and clasped it in it's own clawed one over her slender one.

"Yes…" It then grinned that big fanged grin of it's and she gave a nod too, then she frowned and looked around.

"Do… Do you hear something?" Rose began looking around in bewilderment as an odd yet familiar sound reached her ears.

Venom didn't look very pleased by the sound or the moment having been ruined, and made an annoyed face.

"It seems we must awaken now." And with that the blackness faded and her eyes opened to the bright light that now shone in through the curtain she forgot to close. She growled in aggravation and realized that the sound that blared so annoyingly, was her cell phone as it rang. She quickly snatched the device and flipped it open.

"Hello, who's calling?" The person on the other end began speaking rather frantically and she heaved a sigh and began getting up and out of bed.

"Fine, fine. I'll be there as soon as possible." And with that she hung up. Glancing at the clock she realized that she hadn't even been home for long at all!

"Ugh… I need to get to work quickly. Have any talents that can help?"

The next thing she knew her clothing changed to the attire she had been wearing earlier; which consisted of her denim jean jacket, and a long black sleeve shirt under navy blue scrubs. She smiled and felt less annoyed now, as she grabbed what she needed.

"Perfect. And I see you like to use black a lot. That's fine, I like it. Now, I know you want me to use webhead's powers to help get me to work, but I need to get there in a hurry. So, if you don't mind. We'll use _my_ way." Rose smiled knowingly and winked at her reflection in the mirror as she vanished!

The next thing Venom knew they were outside of a hospital!

' _How did we do that?!'_ The poor symbiote had no idea what this human was capable of because it couldn't read her mind, could it be that she wasn't human at all? Rose scoffed as she hurried into the building and whispered. "Of course I'm human… I'm just special… Meh, I'll tell you later."

* * *

 

 

 

 

 

**To be continued!**

**Well what do you readers think of my Spider-Man fanfic and Rose? Remember this is strictly the lame movieverse version of Spider-Man/Peter Parker, okay? LoL So Spidey fans be NOT offended!**

**The idea for this just randomly popped into my head and wouldn't leave me alone so I said "meh, why not!"**

**You'll find out more about my OC Rose as the story progresses, since it would be boring to just blurt it all out in the beginning lol! My other fanfics are on hold until I can finish the ones I haven't published on here.**

**Also, yeah I decided to keep Brock dead. I can't stand the actor who played him Lmfao! He was better off that way... And by I can't stand the actor, I mean the way in which they MADE the actor protray Venom/Eddie just sucked. Ok? The actor himself is okay, but yeah... Did NOT like the movie version of Venom. Horrible... plus they tried to kill off the symbiote and that just irks me.**

**Ah well!**

**Please review!**

**Until next chapter!**


	2. The Doctor Is In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rose and Venom go to the hospital and stuff happens.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Authors Note(s): Okay so here is Chapter 2! YAY! lol I'll try to upload chapters as quick as I can write and edit them... and I'll write them when I have time XD.
> 
> Until then... ~drum roll~ ENJOY!
> 
> Disclaimer: Oh and I DON'T OWN Spider-Man 3 or anything else in that lousy movie series! If I did, it'd have been good. Thank goodness for fanfiction! lol So I can mess with it and mold it into whatever my insane brain comes up with! ~does happy chibi dance~ WOOOH YEAH!
> 
> Please review!

* * *

 

 

A young man; who looked rather anxious and worried, hurried over to her.

"Oh, Dr. Aconitum! Thank goodness you're here! Follow me! We need you in surgery stat!" And so Rose rushed after the young man as she muttered something about interns.

Once they reached the designated O.R. she quickly scrubbed up and waited until no one was looking before she used her thoughts to convey to Venom that she had to lose the jacket she'd forgotten to take off.

A nurse helped her put on a surgical gown, gloves, etc and she went over to the operating table to see who her patient was. To her surprise it was none other than a very wounded Harry Osborn!

"It took us a while, but we were able to stabilize him enough for surgery, Doctor." A nurse informed Rose as she examined his vitals on the monitors.

Well, no sense in letting the poor guy wait any longer. After a few words from her they began their work; while the nurse continued to inform her about Harry's condition that they were aware of.

It took quite a while and quite a lot of work, but thankfully they were done and the patient survived the surgery. Now it was just a question as to if he would survive through his recovery and rehabilitation.

Ugh, she felt exhausted again. It'd been what now… Sixty or more hours straight without sleep? If it wasn't for the few minutes of rest and the fact that she now had the Symbiote to help her stamina, she doubted she'd have had enough energy to teleport here. Which was the main reason she had to walk home last night. Rose went to get cleaned up and remove the bloody garments; oh so glad for her "natural talents".

It was all she could do to make it through the line in the cafeteria with a huge tray full of food and to the table near the window. Rose needed energy and food was her main source of fuel when sleep alluded her. So she started eating, but not in a gross, piggy way. She ate normally and with manners.

The female physician opened a can of caffeinated soda; which she'd grabbed a few cans of, and this she gulped down.

"Ah! Much better!" She managed a tired smile and was enjoying her assortment of fruit, vegetables, meats, etc. on her tray. But, of course this became less satisfying when she heard someone saying her name in an annoyingly familiar yet unfamiliar voice. Rose wasn't sure why… But it made her eye twitch…

Upon glancing in the direction of the voice, she saw none other than Peter Parker himself.

"Meh, what the heck is that bastard doing here?" She muttered darkly from behind the apple she had been nibbling on. Venom didn't answer her, but she could feel the symbiote's anger rising.

' _It'll be okay. Just try to ignore him…'_

She tried to calm it by using her thoughts to speak to it; saying a few other soothing words, since she couldn't talk out loud at the all, Peter Parker was walking quickly toward her. And boy did he look oh so depressing. Just what she needed, a depressed pest… He stopped in front of her table.

"H-hey, are you Dr. Aconitum?" He asked nervously. It made her smile on the inside to know that she made him more awkward than he was normally. At least what she knew from what Venom had shown her.

Her outside expression however conveyed that she was exhausted and not in the mood for conversation; for she had dark circles under her eyes, disheveled yet somehow awesome looking short, tomboyish jet black hair and a rather grim and cold look that she was reserving just for him at the moment.

"Yeah, what of it?" Now obviously she had to behave as if she didn't know him, but it was needless to say that she was not using the best "Doctor-y" attitude that she should have probably been.

"What are you, another overzealous intern wanting me to mentor you? The answer is always no." She took an annoyed bite of her apple and turned her gaze to look out the window. Not to look at anything, but just so she wouldn't have to look at this pasty jerks annoying mug.

"Uhm…" Was all he seemed to be able to muster. So she turned her gaze back to him.

"Uhm" is not an answer. State your name and business." Her tone was cool and civil, but that still didn't stop her natural ability to intimidate people when she felt like.

"O-oh uhm- I mean! Yes ma'am! Right, well you see Harry Osborn is my best friend and I just wanted to know how he's doing, because the nurse says I can't see him yet and no one will tell me anything!" He spoke quickly and a bit frantically, it was apparent that he was rather stressed out.

"The surgery went rather well. And of course you can't see him yet, you won't be allowed to until further notice in fact, so please don't harass the staff. They have better things to do than get guilt tripped by some whinier who doesn't understand hospital procedure." Peter visibly flinched and bowed his head apologetically.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean any offense. I'm just worried about him…" At this Rose raised a brow and this time she spoke in a softer tone; having sensed that his words were genuine and feeling a tiny bit bad for her grumpiness… Just a tiny bit mind you.

"No need to worry at all. I'm his physician until he has fully recovered, so he will be fine."

Peter blinked and looked up at her.

"R-really?!" He suddenly smiled and seemed very relieved about something. She wasn't sure that she liked that…

"Yeah, why?" At this he just rubbed the back of his head.

"Oh, well I heard from a bunch of the staff that you are the best here! I'm so happy Harry is in such good hands! That's all…" She shook her head and sighed.

"Pfft, that's nice and all, but I ain't a god or anything. His recovery depends on him more than it does my skills as a doctor… If that's all it depended on then yeah, he'd be fine, but everyone has to have the want and the will to recover."

Peter frowned as he tried to comprehend that.

"Huh… I didn't really think of it that way." Rose sipped on her soda.

"Meh, well that's just my view on it." Venom seemed to be caught up listening to the conversation, and was surprised to find that, although it found it's ex-host more annoying than Rose found him to be, it didn't really feel all that keen on killing him at the moment. Especially since that would probably not bode well for it's current host.

Peter reached out and began to pull the chair out that was across from Rose; when suddenly it was pulled back in by the good doctor's foot.

"I'll have none of that. I'm going to finish my food, do some more work and go home. I've no time for you. Understand?" The young man frowned and seemed rather offended but gave a nod anyway and turned to leave after a nervous muttering of "Bye".

' _Ugh, moron. How dare he try to take up my time? Especially since I need to get back to work in a few minutes to check on his supposed "best friend" and all that hogwash.'_ She said to Venom. It was odd, she could almost see the symbiote nodding but it was more like she felt it instead.

' _Yes, when it comes to women, he does seem to forget about what's important. Especially that wretch known as Mary Jane…'_ Rose merely frowned and hurried up to finish her food before leaving the cafeteria.

After her meal, she had some paperwork to do before going to check in on her patient. It would seem an elderly yet well dressed man had a chair right beside Harry's room and was sitting there like a wrinkling sentry. When she reached the door, the man stood and gave her a polite little bow.

"Good morning, you must be Dr. Aconitum, yes?" The man spoke respectfully with a smile to match.

"Good morning to you too, and yes sir I am. And who might you be?" She smiled politely in return.

"My name is Bernard and I am the butler of young Master Harry Osborn." Rose gave a nod. "I see. It is nice to meet you Bernard. But I have to go check on him. If you'll wait here patiently I will be glad to tell you how he is doing." This seemed to cheer the man up. Apparently he had been quite worried for his master and judging by a closer look at his face, she could tell that he was very tired; something she sympathized with.

"Oh thank you Doctor!" She smiled and opened up the door to go inside. The room was dimly lit and the curtains were drawn to better help the patient sleep. Oh how she envied that!

The young woman went over to him and began checking his charts and reading the information on the machines hooked up to him. Rose would then put on a pair of rubber gloves and examine him with such a skillful yet light touch.

It would seem the young man was healing rather well… Remarkably so in fact. It must be the Goblin serum she heard about in that webhead's memories… and the fact that the "skill" she'd used in surgery didn't hurt either.

Still… he would need plenty of time to heal. No doubt he'll end up bed ridden for a few weeks; more or less. She guessed that from the extensive damage to his body that the serum was probably doing the best it could, but it would still take time. Harry had sustained quite a few injuries from that fight, besides the almost fatal ones.

It even seemed that a few older wounds were either aggravated or re-injured in the process. The young Osborn suffered two nice sized wounds in his chest by blades that cut all the way through his torso and just _barely_ missed his heart, a few broken ribs and other various bones, fractures, abrasions, bruises, cuts, and the list went on.

Rose felt bad for Harry. It would seem he didn't have a very good life, despite being rich. She found herself frowning sadly, and shook her head.

"Poor guy…" She then went back to work and finished up. The door to Harry's room opened and Rose exited with her own clipboard of notes and paperwork.

As said, Bernard was waiting as patiently as he could for her return. The dark haired woman informed him about everything, and the man listened silently and with grave concentration.

"Until he wakes up, I'd speculate that he'll need at least a week here under observation before he can go home; as this is the average that someone with his extensive amount of damage typically takes. And even then he will require another two weeks in homecare; should he want that, plus rehabilitation. And if he wants, it might help for him to have someone to whom he can talk to about things… Like a psychiatrist. Not because anything is wrong with him mentally!" She quickly added upon seeing the butler's eyes widening in shock.

"I just suggest it because he seems to have gone through a lot, and it would probably make him feel better if there were someone with whom he could discuss it with. That's all." Bernard looked relieved and nodded.

"I see. Well, thank you so much… You've really been so helpful."

Rose couldn't help but smile kindly at the man. He seemed so sweet and faithful… It warmed her heart to see such devotion to another human being, and to see how he stayed as close as he could to Harry; more like an uncle than a butler.

"I'm happy to do it, sir. And please, if you need anything just let me know." She flipped to the spare piece of paper she usually kept on a clipboard and wrote her name and cell number on it before ripping it off and handing it to the man.

"This is my personal contact number. And don't worry, you will be able to go inside to visit him the day after tomorrow. Right now he needs his rest." Bernard gave another nod.

"Thank you very much Dr. Aconitum!" The young woman smiled and after they shared a few more words about Harry's condition and such, she was finally able to go home. And thanks to the food and the good mood that Bernard person had put her in, she had enough energy to teleport back home; where she cleaned up and passed out on her bed!

Meanwhile, Peter Parker went to go check on Mary Jane, who was getting checked over by a doctor as well. He knocked on the door and it was opened by a nurse. MJ said it was okay for him to come in and the nurse allowed it.

She was just sitting up on the bed as the nurse went back to rubbing some medicine on a bruise that was on her cheek. It seemed that the redhead was a bit scrapped up from the big fight. But otherwise was fine.

He took her home before going about his usual routine of things; trying to take his mind off of worrying about everything and concentrating on what he needed to do instead.

When he got to work at the Daily Bugle, he was pretty excited to start his new position. He still had to hand in pictures and stuff, but he got better pay. When Peter went into his bosses office, the man seemed to be his usual irate self; yelling at that skinny guy with the glasses who was trying to pitch more lame ideas.

"Morning Mr. Jameson." The man ceased his fussing to look at Peter and his eye twitched. JJ was about to open his mouth when a loud buzzing sound shook his desk and nearly made him fall out of his chair. The secretary had used her buzzer to remind Jameson about his blood pressure again; but mainly to save Pete from getting chewed out.

"Where the heck have you been Parker?" The man grumbled as he clenched and unclenched his fists in aggravation.

"At the hospital Sir, I had to take my girlfriend Mary Jane there to make sure she was okay." The young man told him in his usual unsure tone.

His boss paused for a moment and then his eyes widened.

"YOU MEAN THE GIRL WHO WAS HELD HOSTAGE LAST NIGHT?!" Peter slowly nodded and Jameson jumped up from his chair.

"HAH! I knew you were good for something kid!"

"Uhm… Thanks… I think…?"

"Parker, I want you to go and get an interview from that girl! Get all the juicy details about the trauma she suffered from having been abducted and held prisoner by those freaks! And how Spider-Man further terrorized her by tossing her around like a rag doll and you know, all that good stuff!"

"B-but Sir! I'm a photographer! Besides, I can't put MJ through that and Spider-Man saved her, he didn't terrorized her!"

"Details, details! I don't care! Just get the job done!"

"Jonah! You can't ask the kid to interview his own girlfriend after she went through all that!" Robbie Robertson chimed in, in exasperation at how ridiculous and insensitive his boss could be. Jameson seemed to take this into consideration and sighed as he waved a hand.

"Fine, fine! Just go get me some pictures of Spider-Man and maybe go get some of what's left of last nights battlefield." The man sat back down in his chair to puff on his cigar. Peter nodded.

"Yes Sir." And then he quickly left before his boss could change his mind.

So, we leave Parker to go about his usual junk and go back to what Rose was doing. The young woman was so happy to finally have some time off. She was finally able to catch up on sleep.

As a matter of fact, even Venom didn't bother her and took the opportunity to rest and recuperate itself. It had been blasted and most of itself had been incinerated by that pumpkin bomb, so it had been weakened as well.

By the time Rose woke up, it was the afternoon of the next day.

She stretched and yawned before rubbing the sleep from her eyes and trying to recall what had happened the last time she had been awake.

"Let's see… Partnered up with a symbiotic sentient being; check. Saved that Goblin kid: check, check. Got annoyed by the Spider-twit: triple check. And then fell asleep… Hmm… Dang I really want some bacon!" She digressed before hopping out of bed.

After getting cleaned up, she went to fry up some of that delicious bacon in a pan, along with some sunny side up eggs. She toasted some cheddar cheese rolls and sat down to eat with a tall glass of pineapple juice.

' _We sure do eat a lot…'_

She chortled in amusement. "Well yeah, I need the energy. Besides, I work it off in no time. I'm sure you'll understand sooner or later. Even though I managed to get into a fancy-smancy private practice gig, I don't like to be heartless and have a set time at which I choose to treat my patients. I treat them when they need me to; no matter when that is or how long it takes… Like regular doctors… Except my pay is a little better."

The symbiote tried to comprehend this, but it didn't know much about the specifics of these doctors and such. "You did very good yesterday when we were around Parker." She said before crunching on some bacon.

' _Hmm, well its not like we could just attack him there…'_

"I know, but still, I figured some praise was called for. So anyway, I was thinking that I would answer some questions you have about me. It doesn't seem very fair of me to know all that info you shared, while you don't learn anything in return. But, there's some stuff I'd like to keep to myself for now if you don't mind."

' _Very well… It's not like we have much choice. This mind is closed to us.'_

"Yes, I know. Well, here goes…" She closed her eyes and concentrated. Venom was then allowed to absorb what she decided to share with it. It seemed very surprised and was silent for a long time while it processed things.

' _So… We are a mutant… But not just annnny mutant… We are a very_ _ **special**_ _kind! Ohhh, we are very pleased with this!'_ The symbiote seemed positively giddy that she could feel it wriggling excitedly over her skin.

"Indeed… I do hope you understand that the reason I haven't decided to open up completely to you is merely because you haven't decided yet on whether to permanently bond with me or not. Don't want you to end up changing your mind and ditchin' me while you take all my goodies with you. That'd really suck." She could feel the symbiote's pensiveness as it regarded her words.

It was true that Venom hadn't decided yet as to if it wanted to stay with this host or not. It wanted to get it's revenge on Peter Parker and make him understand that it needed him… But it was clear that the stupid hero didn't want anything to do with him and thought that the symbiote was evil and dangerous.

These facts made it sad and embittered. Even that Eddie Brock fellow had screamed in such terror when it tried to bond to him. The only reason the man had let it stay on him was because they both desired revenge against Parker. But what would have happen once that was achieved?

Venom wondered if perhaps that human too would have discarded it as the hero had before him. The symbiotic extraterrestrial had probed Eddie's mind as well and though it had tried to deny it at the time, that human didn't have plans of keeping the black suit either. She felt Venom sulking and frowned as she ate, but knew that the other was in deep thought and needed quiet time.

Venom was misunderstood by those two male fools! If it had wanted to harm them it would have done as it's fellow brethren had always done and just endowed the host with powers long enough to drain them of Phenethylamine, and leaving the host to die while it found a new one; like a true parasite! But, Venom didn't like to do that. All it ever wanted was a good host who treated it properly. It didn't just want to feed and ditch it's host like a useless meat sack…

As a matter of fact that's why it was exiled from its planet to begin with! It's own kind deemed it insane because of it's desire to have just one host and to get along with whoever that person might be; a mutual bond, rather than a domination of the host… Which is why Venom had made an escape while it could before it's own kind tried to imprison it on another planet to keep from "tainting" the gene pool.

And what of this new host? This… Rose Aconitum, why would she be any different from those other two? This is what the symbiote wondered as it muddled and watched her via the woman's reflection on her glass of juice.

Unlike the other two, this one had caught the alien and conversed with it to find out a little about what it was. Then, she _willingly_ agreed to allow it to bond with her temporarily until it decided on whether it wanted her to be it's host or not.

The other two hadn't given Venom a choice… And this Rose treated it well and did not demand anything from it, but instead asked politely. Perhaps this was indeed the ideal host for it to have…

But even so there were still many things it did not know about the young woman, and although it could sort of understand why she kept her mind closed to it, the sentient alien felt rather worried about such a thing… It worried that maybe this one was planning to be rid of it as well… And what with this one having such strange powers, it wondered if she might even try to kill it!

"What troubles you, my gooey little friend? I can feel your apprehension." Rose took a casual sip from her glass as she leaned back in her chair. It then surprised her with how it phrased it's questions.

' _Why did_ _ **you**_ _let us bond with you…? You could have kept us in that jar and been rid of us, but you didn't!_ _ **Why**_ _?'_ It inquired this in a slow manner; unsure as if it wanted to know the truth or not. She smiled softly and ran a hand through her short locks. She didn't know it was capable of referring to them as separate. But it was intelligent, so why not?

"As you know, I am a very _talented_ person… Among one of them is my natural sense of figuring out the true nature of things; this includes living beings of course. When I caught you and had you in that jar, you fought to get out, but not in a violent way. You seemed frightened… I could tell this because any creature in a rage and behaving violently is hard to quell and get the attention of so easily as I was able to when I tapped on the glass. I sensed no evil or malice from you, nor did I see any. And when you made your bond to me; though it is only a temporary one, I am still able to share the feelings you go through. The one that struck me the most was how lonely you are. Having been betrayed and abandoned oh so cruelly and with no remorse… I can empathize… I think you and I make a good pair. And if you wish to make a permanent bond with me, I will be happy to agree to it." Rose paused and seemed to consider something.

"And… Seeing as you have trust issues, I will open my mind to you, if you open yours to me, before we make this pact of sorts…"

' _But we have opened our mind! We shared everything about Spider-Man and the others! Is this not enough?!'_ The alien's voice rose, it felt a feeling of indignation at such a comment. This however, made Rose chortle in a low purr of a voice that confused it.

"Au contraire mon petit ami! You have plenty which you haven't shared with me. I know nothing of what part of your host you gain sustenance from nor where you hail from or why you are even here to begin with! And even so I do not know why you would choose to hide these things from me _if_ you are supposed to be so generous with whatever information you possess to begin with! Thus you lied, and I cannot risk sharing vital personal information to someone who won't share theirs with me."

Her voice was calm and her smile never faltered, but the symbiote could hear the cool, icy tones hidden behind them as she spoke so bluntly. The alien fell silent again as it thought that perhaps it's host was upset with it. **(A/N: Translation: On the contrary my little friend.)**

"Fret not, I do not begrudge or blame you. You have recently been jilted from one host, ripped off another and almost blasted from existence by the latter. You have every right to play your cards close to the vest, as they say." She was met by silence again, but Rose knew that the other had understood the meaning of her words. The woman stood up to clean up, now that she was done eating.

The symbiote seemed to be very pensive and stayed so for about another hour. It only decided to speak when she asked it to change her clothes so that she could go out.

' _Out?'_ She could feel it tilting it's head to the side in curiosity in her minds eye, and she chuckled again.

"Yes, Venom, out as in outside." Now she felt as if it was pouting.

' _We know what we meant! We want to know where we are going and why!'_ She paused as her clothing changed from pajama's to black jeans, a black shirt with a pattern of white webbing all over it, black shoes and a matching denim jean jacket.

"Hmm, I don't really know. I just feel cramped up from being only at the hospital or here. I need some fresh air." And with that she put her cell phone and keys in her pocket and left.

* * *

 

 

**To be continued! DUN DUN DUUUUUUN!**


	3. I Scream, You Scream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rose muses over Pumpkin Pudding, then she and Venom decide to go mess with Spidey!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author Note(s): Also for those who haven't figured it out by now, Rose is Harry's love interest. I will be pairing up Peter with someone, but it is NOT Mary Jane.

* * *

 

 

It was a pretty nice day outside, and not too many people out and about since most of them were still at work or in school. She took a nice leisurely stroll through the park and got herself a tasty ice cream cone that had one scoop of strawberry and one of chocolate! Rose went to take a seat on a park bench where she had a good view to just look around and watch everything.

"Mmm! This is tasty. You know what would be a good flavor of ice cream? Spiced Pumpkin! I mean, I've had pudding of that flavor before and it was really good. But sadly it only comes out during the Thanksgiving Holiday and only certain stores sell it. Hmm, maybe I should make some when I get home? Would be nice for later… What do you think? I need a second opinion."

The ebony haired physician felt pretty good today; much better than the previous and it was so peaceful where she sat. However, her gooey friend didn't seem up for conversation, at least not about pudding anyways.

"Hmm, I suppose it's a pretty big decision to make… You know, if you want, we can set something up and pick on Spider-Man some. What do you think of that?" The symbiote perked up at the mention of the wall crawler.

' _By pick on… Do we mean crush?'_ It's tone seemed curious and cautious.

"No, I just mean we can go annoy him and maybe have a fight. I won't kill the bug unless he tries to kill me. Or he pisses me off to that point… So how about it?" Another moment of silence.

' _Very well. But why not crush him?'_ It seemed genuinely perplexed by her offer. She shrugged and licked at her ice cream.

"Pretty obvious really. I know he's done you wrong and so I thought maybe you want to kick his ass until you feel better. But I also know that you don't really want him dead, and I have no real reason to kill him." At this the alien seemed to cheer up and it decided that it liked this idea. Yes, it would finally get to teach that foolish fleshling a lesson or two!

Now both of them were able to sit and enjoy the scenery and do some people watching, until she finished her cone and got up to leave.

"All righty! We have a few things we need to do before we can go and play "swat the Spidey" though."

' _Such as?'_

"Firstly, I need to go check on how my patient is doing. I have this weird feeling… After that… well, you'll just have to skip to my lou!" And as she walked behind a tree she vanished, only to reappear at the nurse's station where the women were too busy with work to have noticed.

"Good afternoon, I'm here to check on my patient Harold Osborn, thought I'd make my presence known so no one would worry and think I was a stranger intruding or anything." The nurse she spoke to looked up and smiled tiredly.

"Oh, yes Dr. Aconitum! Thanks for that. Go right on ahead and let me know if you need anything else." Rose smiled kindly and made her way to Harry's room; her clothes changing to black scrubs and a white coat.

It seemed the butler had left for the moment, though his chair was still there. She smiled. Such a nice man…The doctor opened up the room; closing it gently behind her, before going over to Harry's bedside.

Rose washed and dried her hands before putting on a pair of surgical gloves. She examined his monitors and read his charts to make sure everything was fine, then changed her gloves again so that she could physically examine him.

Her movements were experienced and delicate as she moved the blankets back and lifted parts of the patients gown so that she could look over how his many injuries were healing. She started from the bottom of the bed and worked her way up. Rose looked at the wound on his face and frowned slightly.

The woman had seen it when he first came in, but she hadn't really looked at it until now. For a few seconds she closed her eyes and was able to view the memory of Parker's to see just how this was caused.

It made her fist clench and unclench; feeling a little more than irked at how that so-called hero could just have left his "best friend" there to die like that, and even worse that he had thrown it at Harry intentionally to begin with!

He could have thrown it in any other direction. But she cringed as she felt the delighted malice Peter had felt as he caught the bomb and hurled it back at Harry. She opened her eyes, as she grimaced to think what would have happened if this young man hadn't had the healing benefits of the serum on his side…

In her sympathetic thoughts, she had unconsciously reached out a gloved hand to lightly caress the man's scarred cheek.

It caused her patient to stir and for her to retract her hand quickly; wondering briefly why she had done that. His eyes twitched and then fluttered open slowly; straining and squinting even in the dim florescent light of the room; as they had the curtains closed to help him sleep.

Rose stayed quiet and calm as she watched him with slight interest. He seemed very groggy and disorientated. But when he took notice of her smiling politely down at him, he seemed even more bewildered.

"Please try not to move Mr. Osborn." The young man blinked and tried to speak but his mouth was too dry. She gingerly patted his hand to let him know it was okay and then went to the sink to fill up a paper cup with water.

Rose then returned and after placing a hand behind his head, to lift it high enough for him to drink; she placed the cup to his lips and assisted him in quenching his thirst. After a few slow sips, she eased his head back down and placed the cup on the little table reserved for a food tray that was tucked beside his bed. She then waited politely for him to try and speak again.

"Wh-where am I? And who are you?"

"My name is Dr. Rose Aconitum, and you are a patient in my care at the Kane Hospital. You have sustained various injuries; some of which were severe and nearly killed you. If you need anything or have any questions, please let me know." As she spoke he seemed to be trying to process it all. Then his eyes widened and he seemed almost scared to ask.

"W-where's Pete?! Is he okay? I-is Mary Jane okay?! Where are they?!"

"Now, now Mr. Osborn. Please calm down. They are fine. In fact when I was called in, I was informed that you were accompanied by two friends who were also in need of care. So I had them examined and properly tended to. Ms. Watson only had a few scraps and bruises and your friend Mr. Parker was just a little banged up. Nothing he won't bounce back from with a few days rest, I'm sure." She told him in a calm and reassuring tone. The man seemed to relax as he heaved a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness!" He managed a small smile; glad his friends were okay.

"Hmm, I didn't think you would be awake for quite a while. How is your level of pain? Any discomfort or anything I need to be informed of?"

He blinked again in surprise, seeming to have forgotten about his own condition.

"O-oh… Uh… Well, now that I think about it, yeah… I do feel pretty stiff and sore. And I hurt like heck… I feel like I got hit by a train and then someone picked it up and beat me with it for good measure." He joked; trying to chuckle at the end, only to cringe in pain.

"Ow!" She shook her head.

"I did warn you about moving… Hmm, as for the rest, that is normal. You have been bed ridden for over twenty-four hours and you are injured." Despite the pain and his previous miscalculation in mirth, he still managed to smile up at her. Rose found she couldn't help but smile back. He had such a cheery attitude; he was probably just happy both he and his friends were alive…

"Anything else?"

Harry had been busy staring and smiling all goofy like up at her, that it took her hand waving in front of his face for him to realize she had said something.

"H-huh?! Oh! Sorry… When do you think I can go home?" The doctor frowned thoughtfully as she gazed at the wall; having to re-calculate everything since he had woken up earlier than planned and seemed to be recovering well. Perhaps the serum worked better than she first assumed?

Harry meanwhile had been eyeing her rosy lips and thinking about how cute and pouty they looked when she made that expression.

"I think I'll need to keep you under observation here for another day or so, before I can give you a definite answer." Rose turned to look at him again and he just continued to grin.

"That's fine. I don't mind being under _your_ observation, Doctor." She raised an eyebrow but decided not to comment out of sheer politeness.

"If you feel well enough, I can allow you to have visitors… I'm sure your butler will be glad to see you awake and in such a good mood." She collected the chart and papers from off that little table and put them back where they went, before pulling off her gloves and disposing of them.

"Really? Bernard's here?!" She nodded nonchalantly.

"Yes, he has been waiting faithfully just outside of your room since they placed you in it. Now unless you have anything else to ask, I shall take my leave." Rose turned to leave and was halfway to the door.

"W-wait a minute! Doctor…. Uhm… whatever your name is… Why do you have to leave?" She stopped and turned back to face him; hands coolly in the pockets of her white coat.

"It's Dr. Aconitum, and I only came to check on you."

His brow furrowed in confusion. "I… I don't understand… What do you mean you only came to check on _me_? Don't you have other patients to tend to?"

"Heh, thankfully I don't have any patients in as severe of a condition as you."

"Oh… Okay. But don't you have to go see them? Its your job isn't it?"

At this she smirked knowingly.

"I'm not required to do anything _today,_ Mr. Osborn…" And with that she turned swiftly and left before he had time to think of something else to say; her white coat swishing behind her and vanishing from sight as the door shut.

For some weird reason, he didn't really want her to leave. He felt rather lonely now as he stared blankly at the door; unsure of what to do now. It wasn't like he could move from the bed and he just didn't feel like watching the television or going back to sleep just yet.

Then he saw the doorknob turning and it began to open with a soft click. Harry felt a tiny bit of excitement that maybe the strange doctor had returned, but then he saw that it was Bernard, whom he was still happy to see… But it wasn't the cute doctor…

"Bernard! How are you?" He asked in a cheery tone as usual, watching with his good eye as his butler; the man whom he felt was like an uncle, approached his beside.

"Oh, thank goodness you're awake Master Harry! I've been so worried!" The old man's tired, bloodshot eyes watered with tears of happiness as he rushed over and grasped Harry's hand in his own and gave it a hearty squeeze before he could restrain himself. The young man squeezed back and patted Bernard on the forearm.

"I'm okay now Bernard! No need for tears!" He smiled brightly and reassuringly up at the uncle figure, as the man pulled out a handkerchief to wipe his eyes; trying to regain his composure.

"So sorry Master Harry…" The young Osborn managed a slightly pained, soft chortle. Glad that someone in this world cared so much for his wellbeing.

"I owe so much to Dr. Aconitum for saving you!" Bernard blew his nose. Harry noticed that the poor elderly man looked as if he hadn't slept a wink. He must be worn to a frazzle!

Harry decided to make a note to give Bernard some time off as soon as he was able to… He'd do it now if he could, but who would help him when it was time for him to go home? Harry would do it afterward, so that neither would worry about the other during that time period.

"Wait… What do you mean?" Harry suddenly realized what the man had said to him. Bernard blinked in surprise.

"Well Sir, she was the one who operated on you! The nurses and other physicians who assisted her, that I spoke with told me so. They said you were near death. That your internal organs were badly damaged but somehow she managed to sustain them so that you wouldn't need transplants and have died waiting for them!"

"Oh…" Was all he could say. Bernard nodded in understanding.

"She seems like a very kind and capable doctor…" The butler mused as he smiled approvingly.

"What makes you say that?" Again the butler seemed taken aback.

"Because Sir, today is her day off! She didn't need to come in at all… Dr. Aconitum mentioned she had some time off when we spoke last." It was Harry's turn to be surprised and he became silent for a few minutes.

"Hmm, I guess you're probably right then…" The young man frowned pensively again and silence fell between them. Then Harry smiled as an idea clicked in his head.

"Hey Bernard, could you please do something for me?"

"Of course Sir! Anything!" He gave a respectable little bow. And with that Harry began discussing an idea of his with the elderly man. Bernard listened attentively and when his master was done, he smiled and nodded his approval.

"Very good Sir. I'll do my best to have that arranged." And with that out of the way, Harry decided to talk to Bernard until the faithful servant became tied and fell asleep in his chair. Harry smiled fondly before he gave that magical little morphine button a couple of presses and was claimed by sleep as well.

Rose left the hospital and decided to find a nice, tall building on which to get a good view of the city.

"Hmm, hey do you have any skills that might help me find out where he is?" The symbiote didn't seem like it was going to answer her, and just as she was about to say something, her vision suddenly felt like she was staring at a television screen and the city was whirling by until it stopped on a certain little Spidey; who was just web-slinging along, minding his own business.

It was strange, but despite having seen it all so fast, she was able to pinpoint exactly where he was and even when she blinked and could see normally again, she still knew his current whereabouts. Rose guessed this was her own version of a "Spidey-Sense" or "Spidey-Sensor" as it was and smirked.

"Oh, this is gonna be fu-uuuun!" And sensing what she wanted, the symbiote changed her clothing to resemble an outfit that it gave to Eddie Broke; except it wasn't bulky. Her body was lean and shapely enough that it only needed just the tiniest bit of enhancing so that she wouldn't be recognized without it.

Rose climbed down the side of the building far enough to view her reflection and smiled; the mask only covered the top half of her face, so that only the small section around her mouth was exposed. Her fanged teeth were more delicate yet still deadly looking fangs than Eddie's were when his mask was retracted from his face.

"Nice… But maybe do something about this?" She would comment as she ran a hand over her scalp. Tendrils began sprouting atop of her head; giving her long, wavy pale green hair. The strands flowed past her shoulders; swaying ever so slowly back and forth of their own accord. **(A/N: For those of you having trouble visualizing the mask and hair just think of Julia Carpenter when she was Spider-Woman with her black suit, but Rose's hair is shorter and ends at the chest area of the torso… I hope I explained that right LOL.)** The webbing and spider pattern on her suit also became the same shade of green and smoothed out to make the suit look more fluid and sleek.

"Hmm, how wicked!" Venom had good taste and sensed what she wanted very well.

"Time to play!" Rose held out her hand and mimicked the maneuvers she learned from what Venom showed her, and began to web-sling her way high above the streets of the city and in the direction to cut Spidey off at the pass!

She stopped just a ways ahead of him and used Venom's camouflaging skills to blend in to where she was perched on the side of a skyscraper. It would seem that the "hero" was in the middle of chasing down a bank vehicle that some crooks decided to commandeer, in order to get the bags of money it transported.

The man on the passenger side was shooting in an idiotically wild fashion; in an attempt to hit Spider-Man so he would leave them alone. The moron couldn't have hit the wall crawler if he'd had the barrel in his mouth! She shook her head and held out her hand to spray some webbing as she pushed off of the glass; hurling herself with her feet raised as she hit Spider-Man square in the chest!

The costumed crusader had no idea what had hit him! Literally; he wasn't able to see her since she didn't disturb his Spidey-Sense, and she was still using the symbiote's blending abilities. After all, Spider-Man was so caught up in what he was doing he didn't have time to notice much else.

As soon as the hero crashed into a building; he seemed to bounce off from the speed of impact only to fall on a lamp post and then the roof of a car. Rose tried her best to keep quiet and not laugh as she kept on slinging away after the criminals.

Peter groaned as he slowly and very painfully pushed himself up.

' _What the heck was that?!'_ He wondered in alarm as he stood up; brushing shattered bits of debris from his suit. The hero looked around but saw nothing. No new Supervillain was lurking in sight to make some big entrance or speech… Just a bunch of cars whose alarms blared and people coming to see what was going on.

Peter decided it might be best to hurry up and try again to catch the crooks. So, he started off again, following the chaotic traffic and damage in their wake.

His search ended when he came to a four way intersection. The hero landed on the side of a building as he viewed the scene before him. If he hadn't been wearing a mask, it would've been apparent that his jaw had dropped and his eyes gone wide.

The vehicle was suspended at least twenty or more feet above the center of the intersection with black webbing! And the three crooks: the two in the front and the one hiding in the back, were bound to the bottom of the money truck! The expression of utter terror on their faces as they tried to scream through the black webbing over their mouths!

As Spidey looked on he noticed that the people below were cheering someone. And as his gaze turned to the direction of their praise, he saw a slender, black figure perched atop of a traffic light post.

He moved in nearer and landed on the ledge of a building; rather close to where this mysterious person stood. His eyes widened at the black suit and he recognized it immediately as the symbiote!

' _But how?! I thought I'd gotten rid of that freaky thing?!'_ Rose meanwhile, had been waiting for him to arrive and was currently watching him and his bemusement with mild interest.

"Well if it isn't little Spidey come to play! You're rather late you know." The masked woman told him in a teasing tone. Her voice was just a touch bit deeper and it had that distinctive yet eerie overtone of the symbiote's own voice; making her sound even more intimidating than she looked, and less distinguishable from her usual one.

"Late for what?" He couldn't help blurting the question before thinking or making a witty remark instead; which ended up making him feel a little lame. He must have hit his head harder than he'd thought.

The woman smirked, and he noticed how sharp her teeth looked as they gleamed dangerously in the setting sun.

"For this!" Rose sprang at him swiftly and he tried to dodge, but she was too quick and managed to rake off a few shreds of his suit along with some skin, with those claws of hers!

Spidey landed on top of a car roof; turning quickly to see where she went. Peter held his upper arm that was now bleeding where her claws scraped clean through cloth and flesh.

"Heh, bet you're missing the suit now, eh Bug Boy?" He heard a rather low, evil laugh echo around him; turning hastily this way and that as he tried to figure out where it was coming from. The next thing he knew something hard connected with his back, sending him toppling to the ground face first!

Rose stood on the hero's back like one would a surfboard; as if it were a normal occurrence. She then did a quick, giddy little dance on him before she stepped off; only to reach down to grab him by the back of his neck and lift him up just long enough to toss him at the brick wall of a shop!

Spider-Man connected with the wall and just as he had, she was right next to him; having grabbed the back of his neck a second time and rapidly bashing the costumed crusader's head against the wall over and over again!

He'd been disorientated and was still trying to recover having the wind knocked out of him when he was knocked off that car. She pulled his head back and then tossed him like a rag doll; landing elegantly a few feet in front of him, as she stood poised.

"You know, this isn't any fun if you don't fight back!" Rose told him, she was getting bored of how pathetic he was being.

It wasn't like he didn't know she had the symbiote on her when he saw her, so he should have known to expect a fight! Rose went over to a fire hydrant and with a sharp kick, she broke the nozzle off and used her hand to help aim the cold blast of water directly at the battered hero.

Well that was certainly a shock to his system! He practically jumped out of his skin when he was harshly doused and scrambled to his feet. Peter coughed and tried to shake out the water that had collected in his mask so that he could breath and see, when he heard her laughing again; though this seemed more amused than the last one.

"Down came the rain, and washed the Spidey out!" The black suited woman sang mockingly as she strolled coolly away from the hydrant and in his direction.

Rose found his reaction rather amusing, and Venom seemed to be enjoying it as well. Upon seeing her closing in, he seemed to regain his sense of battle and raised his hands and sprayed webbing at her; trying to bind her. But it was to no avail for she easily ripped through it with her claws.

And in return she gave him a blast of her own black webbing; it bound him but he still struggled. She stopped only half a foot in front of him and regarded him with the same smirk as before; her head tilting ever so slightly to the side. Behind his mask his eyes widened as he wondered if maybe this was it and he felt paralyzed; seeming to have forgotten he was supposed to be heroic.

"You have spurned that which only wanted to help you. For that we _should_ kill you, but we have decided to punish you in _other ways_ , little Spider."

Parker swallowed hard, but felt the smallest bit of hope when he heard police sirens approaching. Unfortunately, he also saw that this didn't bother the poised predator before him. In fact she had a knowing smirk; like she could sense his hope and found it entertaining.

"Who… Who are you?! Why are you doing this?!" Peter tried to keep his voice strong but it cracked a little as he spoke. He needed to stall for time until either the cops helped or he could think of something.

"Wow, you really are an idiot. You can call us Venom for now. Quite frankly I've no idea what my symbiotic associate saw in you other than convenience and the chance to obtain your powers…" She frowned slightly at that and did indeed seem a bit bewildered by the symbiote's interest in Peter Parker.

"Wait a second… You referred to yourself as a separate person!?" He was shocked, from what he learned from having it on him and experienced when dealing with it on Eddie. He knew very well that the creature liked referring to itself as one person.

"Pfft! Well of course you moron! Honestly, you have no real understanding of what you've forsaken, have you?" She shook her head in disappointment as she scolded him.

As the cop cars came into view, Venom picked up Peter and tossed him up onto a rooftop; following with ease behind him so that they could continue their "little chat". He landed with an "Oof!" as the wind was knocked out of him yet again; having landed face down.

"Oh, I'm gonna feel that in the morning!" He groaned and was rolled over by the female Venom; who used her foot to do so.

"Listen, if I wanted to kill you or had any intention to do so, you'd have been dead when I knocked you out of the sky while you were chasing those crooks. Understand? Now, I have no problem with you, but you have treated my friend shamefully and cruelly. For that, I feel I must take it upon myself to exact some vengeance."

' _Great, just what I need… a whack job villain with a twisted sense of honor.'_ Spider-Man thought dryly.

"And just what do you have in mind?" He asked in a pained, peeved tone as he tried to squirm and break the webbing. The hero wasn't sure why but it seemed stronger than Brock's had been. Was the symbiote getting stronger or was it the host who made it that way?

"Heh, oooh where's the fun in telling you that?! No, no, We'd rather you be surprised!" Both of their attentions however, were abruptly turned to the sound of a gunshot and the screaming that rang out!

* * *

 

**To be continued! DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUN!**

**What will happen to Spidey? What's going on with the gunshot and screaming? And will Rose ever decide on whether or not to make pudding? FIND OUT IN THE NEXT INSTALLMENT OF ~drumroll~ "THANK YOU FOR THE VENOM!" Well... You may not find out about the pudding thing... in the next one... I forget... Lmfao! But yeah... that other stuff though you should.**


	4. A Penny For Your Thoughts?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the new "Venom" saves the day!

* * *

 

Rose grabbed a hold of the front of Spider-Man; where her webbing bound him and drug him quickly over to the edge to see what was going on. They were shocked to see that the cops had arrived to take the robbers away, but one of them managed to get free of the officer who had him. The crook grabbed the cops gun and a hostage from the crowd who had spilled out onto the crime scene; seeing as the cops hadn't yet gotten the area properly blocked off.

The situation was made even worse when the two of them realized it was a little girl the criminal was holding!

"You have to let me go! I have to save her!" Parker was more than surprised to notice that Venom was gritting her fanged teeth in anger. Was she mad at the criminal for interrupting them… Or was it possible that she didn't like seeing an innocent in harms was either?

Spidey opened his mouth to say something else, but whatever he was going to say ended up turning into a yelp of shock as he was yanked forward! Venom had leapt from that rooftop and in the blink of an eye they seemed to just appear on the building directly behind the man; who was backing up as he held the gun to the crying girl's head. He yelled at the cops to let him leave or else.

Spider-Man's eyes widened when he realized that the black suited beauty hadn't used speed to get them where they were, but what he saw next made him both envious and frightened!

He was dropped on the ledge, and Venom was no longer beside him. All of a sudden he saw a blur of black and the man's gun vanished! Then the girl appeared beside Spider-Man who was in turn, grabbed and vanished from the rooftop himself!

The robber had no idea what the hell was going on! But then something red, blue, screaming, and very heavy came at his face and knocked him off his feet. He was sent flying through the windshield of a police car!

The young sobbing girl stood there paralyzed with fear on the rooftop, before a female costumed up in black seemed to materialize in front of her!

"P-please don't-!" The little girl began tearfully, but she was cut off when the woman smiled sweetly and put a finger to her lips.

"Shhh… It's all right little one. You are safe now. See?" She gestured down to the now bleeding and glass ridden crook, that she had subdued by throwing Spider-Man at him.

The little girl sniffled and then threw herself at Rose; hugging her and sobbing into the woman's chest. Rose wrapped her arms comfortingly around the girl, as she spoke words of reassurance to the traumatized child until her sobs subsided enough for her to ask some questions.

"There, there… Where are your parents? I'm sure they must be worried about you." The way Rose spoke, the girl thought that the doctor in disguise's voice was like honey as she spoke and decided that the woman wasn't as scary as she first thought. Rose couldn't help being fond of children; they were just so cute that she had never been able to keep from helping one who was in distress.

The girl pulled away and rubbed her face on the back of her sleeve as she sniffled.

"I-I was looking f-for my d-daddy! M-mommy d-doesn't know. S-she thinks I'm a-at my friends h-house!" The girl stammered as she tried to hold back her tears; trying to act strong like her dad and not be a crybaby.

Rose gave the girl a gentle poke on the nose, that caused the girl to hiccup and look surprised.

"That was very naughty of you little one. Very well… We will take you home to your mother." The girl looked like she felt bad for what she'd done by lying and sniffled again.

"Th-thank you." The little girl then proceeded to tell Venom where she lived and the woman picked her up and told her to hold on tight as she began to web-sling away.

Venom landed cat-like on the fire escape and set the girl down gently in front of the window she said led to her room. The girl seemed to have cheered up greatly from getting to web-sling around the city.

"Wow that was really fun! Can we do it again?!" The girl asked excitedly. Rose chortled coolly; amused by the positive change in attitude.

"Not today little one." She gave the girl a pat on the head, who giggled.

"My name's Penny, Penny Marko! What's your name?" The girl introduced herself; wanting her hero to remember her.

"For now, it's justVenom." The girl made a face, confused.

"That's an odd name, but okay!" She smiled brightly again and turned to open her window and climbed into her room. Penny then turned around so she could talk some more.

"Marko… Your father wouldn't happen to be Flint Marko, would he?" Rose asked as she suddenly recognized why the name sounded familiar.

"Yeah! That's my daddy! Do you know him?!" The girl's eyes widened and she looked full of hope that someone might know her dad and even more possibly where to find him!

"In a way… But we're sorry, we don't know where he is." Penny bowed her head in disappointment and seemed to become sad again. Rose felt a painful tug on her heartstring; she didn't mean to make the kid upset… But then Penny seemed to perk up!

"Hey, I know it might be too much to ask Miss Venom, but do you think you could keep an eye out for him and let him know I miss him?" Rose looked down at the girl whose eyes were filled with such innocence and hope, that she heaved a sigh and she ran a hand through her pale green hair.

"Oh… Very well… But we doubt he'll believe us…" At this something seemed to click in Penny's head.

"Wait right here!" And the child began to rummage around her room for something.

Rose stayed right where she was and waited patiently. _'_

 _Why are we bothering to help this child? We already saved her… We have no obligations to find that person.'_ Rose sighed quietly as she muttered to herself.

"I know that… But I feel bad for her. She risked her life going off on her own like that just to find her dad… Especially during the fight and everything. The kid must really miss her father. Can't you empathize with her too?" Venom fell silent in consideration.

' _We suppose… But we don't much like that man.'_ She smiled and folded her arms over her chest.

"That's because you-know-who didn't like him because of the uncle thing." The symbiote gave a little growl and pouted; finding her skills of common sense and deduction to be irksome at the moment.

Their conversation was interrupted by a little "Aha!" as Penny hurried over to them; holding something in her little hands. It was a small bundle of letters tied together with an old, thin pink ribbon.

"I found daddy's letters he hid under my pillow. So I wrote replies, but I don't know where he is to send it to him, and mommy won't tell me!" Penny's brow furrowed as she explained; seeming rather aggravated that her mother was so uncooperative.

"We see… We need to leave now Penny, but we'll make sure he gets these and your message." She took the bundle of letters and let her suit absorb them. "Oh thank you Miss Venom! I can't thank you enough!" Penny leaned out of her window to hug Venom; who had kneeled down so they could speak.

"You're welcome Penny. We'll see you around some time." Rose smiled and gave the girl a pat on the head before standing and doing a back flip off of the fire escape; extending her hand and proceeding to web-sling away, as Penny waved happily from her window. The little girl left her room to go watch TV in the living room and wait for her mother to get home from work; the happiness and adrenaline wearing down as she began to feel rather sleepy from her big adventure.

Back at the scene of the crime! Spider-Man received a rude awakening as two officers heaved him off of the robber. One of them was nice enough to cut the black webbing off of the hero and help him stand. Peter placed a hand on his throbbing forehead and stood rather shakily.

"Ugh… Anybody get the license plate of the guy I hit?" He shook his head gently and began to regain his composure some.

"Are you okay Spidey?! That sure was some toss you got!" The officer helping him commented.

"Y-yeah I'll live… I think. What happened to the girl? Is she okay?" The cop nodded.

"Yeah but we don't know where she was taken! And no one seems to remember what she looks like neither!"

The hero heaved a heavy sigh.

"Great… Just great… Any idea which way they went?" The police officer thought for a moment.

"Last I saw, that woman in black went swinging off in that direction." He pointed the direction as he spoke.

"Thanks!" Peter decided that it was time to head out of here before anything else happened. Maybe he'd be able to catch up to Venom if he hurried. And be able to pay her back for the beating she'd doled out on him!

' _Yeah right Spidey… If it hadn't been for that distraction earlier, you'd probably be Spider-slaw…'_ He thought acerbically, as he used his webbing to pull himself up and away.

Peter remembered just how quickly she turned dangerous when that girl was taken hostage… He shuddered to think what she'd do if she decided to turn that kind of hostility toward him! Maaaaaybe payback wasn't the best idea after all?

Peter was smart enough to know that she had only been playing around with him. And like she'd told him herself; she was only doing it to avenge the embittered alien goop.

But, despite this and how much pain as he was in, he was worried about what that seemingly psychopathic person might do to the little girl. So, he hastened his pace and swung past buildings as fast as his aching body would go; searching the surrounding area. They couldn't have gone so far that fast, could they?

Then, just as he thought he might not ever find them, out of the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of a black blur swinging just up ahead. Willing himself to go faster, the hurried hero began to catch up! Venom seemed to be heading to a rather poor area… Then again what part of New York wasn't?

The sun had begun to slip below the horizon; allowing the shadows to creep over his surroundings and make it harder for him to see where Venom was going. He tried to keep a good distance between them, but he ended up losing them when they took an abrupt turn!

When he tried to follow, he couldn't see where they had gone. For about ten minutes; more or less, he searched around as stealthily as he could and arrived just in time to see Venom on one knee in front of a window on a fire escape, as the little girl _hugged_ her!

' _Wait… Did I miss something here?! Since when does that symbiote ever do anything good?!'_ He frowned behind his mask, wondering just what had transpired while he had been trying to find them.

Peter decided that it might be better to just stay back for the time being and watch what happened. But there wasn't much else to watch really. The two females exchanged a few more words; which from what he could tell by the girl's expressions were good ones, before Venom took her leave.

' _Geez… do I have a concussion or what?!'_ Pete thought to himself as he rubbed his head; regretting the action as he felt the sharp pain from the slightest pressure and winced. Spidey shook his head slowly as he headed back home; feeling unfit to do anymore this evening unless he absolutely had to.

' _He was watching us… We noticed, yes?'_ The symbiote's tone seemed a little annoyed that the former host dared to follow them and spy.

"Yes, I know. I'd rather him have seen us leaving the girl there than have him track us down and harass us later about where we "took" her or any nonsense." Rose exhaled softly as she stretched her limbs; enjoying the feeling.

Rose sat perched up on a wide ledge of a building that was tall enough so that she wouldn't be noticed. Not that she cared, but any attention drawn toward her might prove to be irksome, so why take the chance.

"You know, I had fun today! It's been so long since I was in a fight. I mean, the little spider wasn't much of a challenge… But maybe he'll be better next time, eh?"

' _Yes, that was thrilling! When can we do it again? We enjoyed punishing him so!'_ It hissed gleefully. She could feel the blackness on her body squirm around in delight and was glad that it seemed to be feeling better.

"Heh, don't worry. We'll have plenty of time and chances for you to let off steam, by tormenting the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man." Rose laughed and she could hear the voice of Venom joining in the mirth in her head.

"Seriously though… It was a nice change of pace from the constant monotony of everything." She sighed pleasantly and leaned back against the cool stone; enjoying the feel of the night air and the sight of the night sky from her perch. Her leg hanging over the edge and swinging back and forth lazily.

"But you know… I wouldn't mind a real challenge. Bug Boy is nice and all, but I have no problem with him. He's good for the city… I need a new opponent or something. Hmm, maybe I should try my hand at this "hero" stuff? We didn't mind saving Penny…" The symbiote perked up and seemed rather interested in her train of thought.

"Heheh, well, an Anti-Hero is more like it… But I think we can make it work. What do you think?" The amorphous alien squirmed a little more to show it's enthusiasm; little tendrils rising up and wiggling about.

She laughed in amusement; reaching out to lightly stroke the little tentacles on her forearm. Venom itself was pleased. It was growing quite fond of this new host. She treated it so well and accepted the symbiote for all that it was. Rose wondered if it ever pick her to bond permanently with? Or would she be abandoned again…?

Rose slowly stood up and gazed calmly down at the busy street below; she didn't think going down that train of thought would do anything besides kill her good mood, so she'd put it aside for now.

"We better get home. I have work in the morning…" The semi-bonded lass leaned forward and let herself fall off of the edge of the building. The cool wind rushed by her; rippling through her hair and caressing her skin as she plummeted down, and dooooooown. Blurs of lights and all that was around her flew by! The pavement was coming close her fast, if she didn't do something soon she could die…

With a finessed flick of the wrist; a black web shot out and connected with a building, she pulled her body up and began swinging away! The near death thrill sending shivers down her spine as she let out an exhilarated laugh! Oh how she loved these new powers! They were so fun and allowed her to do even more interesting things!

The symbiote couldn't agree more as it wondered what this host was really capable of when she had a mind to do something? It had been quite impressed with her display of powers during the rescuing of that child.

The utter unpredictability of the woman excited the amorphous alien and pulled it deeper into thoughts it tried to push aside… Rose took the opportunity to web-sling all the way home; crawling in through a window she'd made sure to leave unlocked, and climbing inside.

She shut and locked it behind her as her clothing began transforming back to her regular attire. Rose yawned; the excitement from the events today had kind of tired her out. So the doctor took a nice hot shower.

Venom wasn't quite fond of the heat of the water; squirming around and turning into a necklace or bracelet in an attempt to get away from the hot cascading liquid, but it started to notice that steadily throughout the shower, it began to dislike it less and less, and it stopped retracting away from it and instead allowing the water to touch it; doing so quite tentatively a first as it was rather befuddled.

It then noticed it's host seemed pleased about something and it found this to be curious.

' _What has us so happy?'_ She chortled knowingly as she shut the water off and stepped out to dry off.

"You still don't get it do you… My mutant abilities remember?" And at the mention of this, it all clicked!

' _Yes-sss… We remember now… We can "adapt" now… More efficiently!'_ Venom began wriggling around again, so much that it almost felt like it was vibrating faintly; which of course tickled her and made her laugh. It thankfully stopped after a little and tried to calm itself before Rose fell over from laughing so hard.

The symbiote dressed her back into pajamas, as she went to get something to eat. After which she went and laid down in her bed; reaching over to set the alarm on her clock beside her bed.

Then she laid on her back and stared up at the white ceiling. Thinking… Black tentacles appeared from her stomach area, holding the bundle of letters. Rose took them, appreciating that the symbiote chose to work with her and was so quickly understanding what she wanted or needed without needing to vocalize it.

Rose eyed the wrapped pile of letters. On the top one she could see it had bright green and blue letters that were written in a child's handwriting. It read "To: Daddy. From: Penny." and had little hearts and doodles drawn all over it. She smiled and ran her fingers lightly over the soft pink ribbon.

"What a sweet kid… Kind of reminds me of myself…" She then sighed and shook her head somberly at that which she didn't want to remember right now. It'd kill her cheery mood for sure. So she set the letters on her stomach as the blackness consumed it again.

Meanwhile, Venom wondered what memories they were that could be so dismal… It resolved not to pry for now and instead listened to it's host as she shut her eyes and her breathing slowed, until she fell asleep.

The Rose human really did seem like the perfect host… And the longer it spent with her, the less it wanted to go back to that ungrateful Parker. It wondered why this human had such a positive affect on it…?

Venom could think so clearly with _this_ host, and she even looked out for it by giving it the ability to rid itself of it's weaknesses. Such a kindness she'd bestowed, without it even having to complain or get hurt first… For a moment it was distracted as it observed that it's host had fallen asleep and forgotten to cover herself up. So it reached out it's tendrils and pulled the blankets up over her snugly.

Venom smiled warmly as it heard a soft little sigh escape her lips as she shifted; seeming more comfortable now. It reached over it's tendrils and pulled the curtains closed on the only window in her room. Then the blackness disappeared back into itself as it relaxed and rested too.

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED!**

**There yah have it! Wooooo looks like some character developments! DUN DUN DUUUUUUUN! lol I liked Penny and Sandman and felt that Spider-Man totally messed up when he wouldn't let him help his daughter. I mean wtf? That's not a hero, that's a zero! Selfish jerk! Ugh, but I'll try not to get into a rant about webhead. Lmfao, not now anyways! I figured SOMEONE should try to help the kid. Who better than an awesome doctor with superawesome powers?**


	5. Paint it Black

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rose has a nightmarish memory and Harry starts to have... "stirrings"...

_Blackness… it consumed her… it was all around her and yet she felt unafraid… In fact it was more comforting than anything. Just cool darkness; suffocating and yet so soothing…_

_Then there was a sound. It kept getting louder and more panic inducing. She needed to open her eyes but she didn't want to; suspecting what lay in the always harsh light. Everything was so much better where there was no light, no sound… And nothing else to cause her pain and make her cry…_

_An internal struggle ensued within the little girl… One part of her mind screamed and pleaded her that she needed to open her eyes, or things would get bad. The other part calmly reasoned for her to keep them close because it was already bad so she might as well just let go and stay in her happy place._

_The little girl couldn't stand the loud sound anymore and decided to open her eyes slowly; peeking to see what it was that disturbed her tranquil darkness._

_It was an older woman; in her late thirties. She seemed frighteningly irate about something and was screaming so loud it hurt the child's ears. Small, pale hands reached up to cover her own ears, but the older female seized her wrists in a painful grip and yanked them away!_

_The cruel woman hadn't stopped her hostile hollering and it seemed to be getting more antagonistic as the seconds passed. The girl could make out something the woman said about being made to listen and then the woman held one of the small, frail arms in both of her hands and there was a snapping sound that caused the little girl to cry out in pain; tears welling up in her eyes!_

_The woman glared at the child in disgust and tossed her to the floor like a rag doll. The girl lay crumpled and cradling her broken arm to her chest; trying to quiet her sobs by biting her bottom lip._

_For a few moments the woman became quiet as she stared at the little injured heap that lay curled up on the dirty floor. Then the girl cringed as her arm began to look as it had before being broken! As if it was healing! It always hurt… Not as bad as when she was hurt, but it still was not a good feeling._

_The woman spoke cruelly to the child, calling her a monster and all sorts of other horrible things, as she grabbed something off of the kitchen table and moved to loom over her. A look of utter revulsion on the woman's face as she swooped down to gaze right into the girl's grey eyes._

_Out of the corner her innocent eyes, the child saw something metal and sharp looking while the woman raised her arm steadily upward. The woman spat on the girl's face before the blade of a knife came swiftly down to pierce the child's stomach! It happened so fast, but to the girl time seemed to slow down…_

_The older female stabbed the young girl repeatedly all throughout her torso in a maniacal fashion; all the while shrieking about how shameful it was to have given birth to such an abomination and how she'd make sure to be rid of it once and for all!_

_The girl's vision began to fade as the screams of agony and terror died in her strained throat; being replaced by a labored gurgling. And although she was too small and weak to have had a chance of fighting back, it wouldn't have done her any good to have tried, since the woman's weight pinned her down and prevented any feeble attempts anyway._

_The child closed her eyes; trying and praying to block out everything… For it to just end so she could go back to that blissful blackness! Then after what seemed like an eternity, her wish seemed to be granted, as the darkness began encircling her; pulling her back into its sweet, comforting embrace…_

_Though it made no sound, she could feel its reassurance as it dragged her further down… and down into that wonderful oblivion… As the loving shadows wrapped snuggly around her fragile being, she was content and felt as if she was smiling._

_But, as it always seemed to happen, she had to open her eyes again. Though this time she wasn't the one who did it. She frowned and tried to open her mouth in protest as she felt like someone was forcing one of her eyes to open wit their small fingers._

_Suddenly she started coughing. She tasted something tangy and metallic… The girl recognized that flavor very well... And against her better judgment she opened her eyes again. But what met them was the bewildered looking faces of other kids who were staring down at her…_

_And behind them was the sky: so bright and blue! One of the children said something about her being awake. The girl suddenly felt small arms like hers underneath of her as they pulled her up out of something that had an unpleasant, decaying smell._

_They carried her off somewhere and the girls cleaned her up and changed her torn, bloody clothes. They set her on something soft to rest and she closed her eyes again, sinking into a deep slumber…_

_Then she heard it! Another loud, ear piercing sound… She opened her eyes, but this time she saw a smaller, younger girl; she hadn't been apart of the group that helped her, but something told her that this poor little innocent was important. What was her name again…?_

_The little girl seemed to be trying to shake her awake! There were flames and people running, all sorts of hostile sounds surrounded them! This girl looked frightened; tears streaked down her face and she was screaming something that took her a few seconds to understand! "WAKE UP! YOU HAVE TO WAKE UP!"_

Rose sat bolt upright in bed, her eyes flying open; wide and alarmed as she breathed raggedly. The shrill, terrified screams of the smaller girl ringing in her ears. Cold sweat soaked the sheets where she had been sleeping, as beads of it trickled down her face; currently trying to quell her fight or flight instincts.

The symbiote was on full alert, searching the room for enemies as it felt it's host rousing upright so abruptly! It's inky blackness coiling around her as it changed from pajamas to the black suit that covered her protectively as her emotions surged through it.

' _What is it?! What's wrong?!'_ Venom asked anxiously; sensing that the coast was clear.

"A dream… It was… Just a dream…" She panted; more in a tone like she was trying to reassure herself than Venom, as she placed her hand over her eyes. She slowly slide it down her face and let it fall back down to her side. Taking a few calming deep breaths, Rose managed to regain her composure for the most part…

It was then that she realized that her alarm clock had gone off and was still blaring away. She quickly shut the stupid thing off and heaved a heavy sigh.

' _Had a nightmare did we…?'_ The blackness wrapped and coiled itself around it's host in a manner that she found comforting and familiar. The dark haired woman pulled her knees to her chest and hugged them; trying to steady her breathing and rapid heartbeat.

The symbiote wriggled, wanting to comfort it's upset host, but not quite sure how. Rose smiled a small smile; appreciative of it's company in times like this.

"I'll be okay… But I guess I have to get ready for work. Don't want to be late do we?" Taking note that the female needed to distract herself, but was at least feeling a little better, and that she was calming down to her original self; it felt a mixture of relief and worry… It couldn't remember worrying about either of it's other hosts like this...

The slightly distraught doctor got out of bed and went about her morning routine as Venom changed her into her work clothes. Rose didn't feel hungry that morning, so she decided to skip breakfast and teleported to work. Which did nothing to comfort Venom since it knew she liked and required such sustenance

For the rest of her shift she did her usual routine of rounds, paperwork, tending to and visiting patients, and so on. Harry Osborn was next on her list. She gave a soft knock on his door, and entered when she heard a voice permitting her entrance. When she crossed the threshold to the room however, she stopped in her tracks and raised a curious brow.

"Good day Mr. Osborn. I hope I'm not interrupting anything?" The black haired physician asked politely, while her eyes surveyed the other people in the room. The redhead Mary Jane and slightly disheveled Peter Parker.

"Not at all Dr. Aconitum! Please come in!" Harry assured; seeming in even brighter spirits today. She hadn't even made two steps toward the chart at the end of the bed, when Peter sprang to his feet and hurriedly approached her; stumbling over his own shoes in the process.

"D-Dr. Aconitum! It's so good to see you again!" He spoke anxiously; his face flushed faintly. Harry, MJ and Rose all raised their eyebrows curiously.

"Do I know you?" Rose inquired, and Peter's smile fell for a second.

"Oh right! I'm the guy from the Cafeteria the other day, remember? Peter Parker, Harry's friend!" She made a face as she pretended to think.

"Ah, yes. The worrywart. Now unless you're dying, I'd like to get on with checking up on Mr. Osborn." Her tone remained surprisingly polite, though it was obvious she had no interest in conversation with Peter.

This seemed to make Harry smile though, and he watched her smoothly bypass his friend and grab the chart to read.

' _Heh, nice try Pete! You're gonna need some aloe for that burn!'_ Harry mused in his mind. Upon turning around and catching the glare that Mary Jane was reserving just for him, Peter rubbed the back of his head and smiled sheepishly at her. She gave a little "Humph!" and upturned her nose at him; crossing her arms over her chest.

Rose did her best to pay no mind to the antics of the doomed lovers as she examined the information the chart held.

"So how's it look Doc?" The patient eyed her curiously. Sadly it still hurt too much for him to sit up, which is why he still had to lie down and so, he viewed her as best he could from where his head had been propped up with an extra pillow. It was probably done by Bernard; who oddly enough wasn't there. Rose figured that the man must have business to attend to on behalf of his employer.

"Your vitals have improved significantly and your wounds are healing quicker than anticipated… If you think you're up to it, I can arrange for you to be transported home tomorrow. You'll still be on bed rest though." Rose pulled a pen from the pocket of her white coat as she flipped through some papers on the chart; not looking at anything else, but still managing to look cool to those who were in the room.

"What about check-ups and stuff? Do I have to come back to the hospital or do I get home visits?" She looked up from her chart at him aloofly.

"Well I presumed you would procure yourself a physician of your own. Possibly your regular family doctor? As I was only given your case due to the severity of the circumstances. I'm sure that person can give you proper homecare. And you'll only have to come in to the hospital for just the basic workup to make sure you've healed properly. So you will probably come in a few times for that."

"I see… Well that's fine then. I'll go home tomorrow." Harry beamed, glad to be getting out of the hospital. He wasn't very fond of them… Hospitals had sick people and that strange scent of death, old and burnt coffee, and cleanser. Plus they just had that natural ability of being rather gloomy and depressing.

He wondered how Dr. Aconitum could tolerate being in such a dreary place? Rose gave a curt nod and gave her pen a quick click and began filling out the necessary paperwork.

"You look a little young to be a doctor… What are you an intern or something?" Mary Jane's tone and expression were rather haughty, but it was obvious she was just envious and trying to belittle Rose.

Oddly enough the physician didn't even need to say anything, because at that moment she was defended on two fronts. The first was Peter who seemed shocked by what MJ had said and that she didn't even know who the doctor was.

"Dr. Aconitum is a medical marvel! She's one of the youngest and most skilled physicians in the city!" **(A/N: remember this is a fan fiction, soooo yeah, we'll say she is. She's like Dr. House if he were a mutant lol.)**

"She has degrees in various different fields of medicine! And that's just to list a few of the things she's known for!" The boy finished; seeming more like an enthusiastic fanboy than a superhero to Rose, who blinked; mildly awed that the neurotic nerd knew about any doctors outside of the field of Science. It seemed some time after their first meeting, Parker must have done some research on her… it was a tad creepy in her mind, but she supposed she understood…

"Wow, really? Huh…" Harry looked very amazed by the information but then joined in with a frown of disapproval of MJ's attitude toward his doctor.

"I mean- yeah! This woman saved my life! You should apologize MJ!"

The skanky redhead glared indignantly and huffed again.

"Argh! All you guys are alike! You're only siding with her because you think she's prettier than me!" She gave another huff and stormed out of the room. Peter hurried to chase after her; the whole way they could hear him trying to plead with the sickly, crack addled looking drama queen.

"What? W-wait Mary Jane! That's not it! I mean, she is pretty but that's not- hey! MJ don't look at me like that, you know what I'm trying to say! Mary Ja-aaaane!" And his whining faded down the hall.

Both Rose and Harry stared at where the two morons had just left before they turned to look at one another. Harry was smiling sheepishly; feeling embarrassed by his friends antics while Rose shook her head and sighed softly. They stayed silent for a while as she went back to the forms.

It was barely a moment after she finished signing her last form, when Bernard gave a soft knock on the open door before entering.

"Hey Bernard!" Harry perked up; having felt a bit awkward during the silence, for he had no idea what to say or if he should say anything at all! The elderly man smiled kindly.

"Greetings Master Harry, Dr. Aconitum. I have come to tell you that I have completed the task bestowed upon me, Sir." He gave a curt bow as he remained standing beside the entrance. This seemed to please the former supervillain greatly as he grinned.

"That's great! Thank you for all your help! Now I can tell Dr. Aconitum!" At this Rose quirked a brow and turned her attention upon Harry.

"Tell me what, exactly?"

"Well, when you mentioned to me that I would be able to go home yesterday, I figured I'd need a homecare physician! Since I'm allowed to pick who that person is, I picked you!" He grinned like someone who just won the prize he wanted in the claw machine; his working green eye twinkling with excitement. The secret Anti-Hero was utterly taken aback and her expression showed it.

"M-me? But, why would you want _me_?" Despite being such a skilled physician she was a rather modest one and her surprise was genuine.

"Who better?! You already know my files and everything, so I know I'm in good hands!"

"But what about my other patients?"

"No worries. I thought of that, and had Bernard take care of it!"

The butler gave another curt bow, but this time to Rose; who frowned quizzically.

"My apologizes Dr. Aconitum, but I spoke with the superior of your private practice group and they agreed to have your patients looked after by other physicians, so that you'll be able to give the young Master full-time care." Her eye twitched and her grip tightened on the clipboard.

"You… You had no right… You didn't even ask me…!" Her voice was a deadly calm and lowered as she glared at Harry, whose grin vanished in an instant.

"I-I didn't mean any harm! I just figured you wouldn't mind! If you want you don't have to!" Her eyes narrowed before they closed; her hand reaching up and massaging her temple in frustration. She needed to stay calm and try to handle this as best she could. Besides, her fate seemed pretty sealed already.

"Let me guess… You donated money to them didn't you?"

"Y-yeah…" Harry's answer was a bit quiet as he looked genuinely sorry; wondering what she was getting at.

Rose gave a low, exasperated growl before looking at him with a calmer but still irked expression.

"Then I guess I have no choice after all… Once my boss gets a donation, I'm obligated to comply or else they may try to fire me…" She all but threw the chart back into its plastic holder and ran a hand through her feathery black hair.

"I'm sorry… I had no idea…" Harry frowned sadly, feeling at fault.

"It's fine… I don't mind being your homecare doctor. It's just that I would've liked to have had a choice in the matter. That's all…" She slid her hands into the pockets of her white coat.

"O-oh, really?! You mean you're okay with it then?" His spirits seemed to perk up at that.

"Tek, as okay as I can be, I suppose… Just ask me next time you want something, okay?" Harry nodded and smiled happily.

"Okay Dr. Aconitum! And thanks…" His cheeriness and good nature was rather infectious and she couldn't help the small smile that formed on her rosy lips.

"You are… quite welcome Mr. Osborn…"

"Heh, Mr. Osborn was my dad. Please call me Harry!"

"Very well then. If that's all, then I really must be going. I have some more work to attend to before all of my responsibilities are handed over tomorrow…" Rose turned to leave, but was stopped when he called out to her. "W-wait, Doc!"

"Yes?" She glanced over her shoulder at him, her expression one of raised eyebrows from faint curiosity. He stared; his eyes going wide for a second before clearing his throat. How could she be so freaking cute?!

"I… Uh… I'll see you tomorrow then… Right?" Rose flashed him an amused smile with a tone to match.

"Bright and early, _Harry_." The young woman caught his blush at her reply before swiftly leaving the room, with an amused smirk. Bernard stood, smiling knowingly. Watching the interactions between these two was odd yet entertaining. Young Master Harry seemed to have taken a liking to the good doctor.

Bernard wondered what the coming days would bring with them having to spend more time together? Perhaps having such a young woman in Harry's life would help him to live a more happy and healthy one? The butler only hoped all of this would bring good to the boy…

Harry stared at the entrance, even though she was long gone from his sight. He felt the warmth in his cheeks and a strange feeling in his stomach; wondering if it was from all the medications or something else entirely… The young man had never felt so anxious and yet so at ease around anyone as he did her.

He kept trying to tell himself that the morphine and such was probably just clouding his judgment or something. But… Well, he wasn't quite sure what he thought… Harry was pretty confused and his head was still a little hazy and such from the fight and everything else.

Harry exhaled a deep and tired sigh as he closed his eyes. Maybe some more sleep would do him some good? After all, tomorrow was another day… And the thought of that made his insides give a little squirm.

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED! DUN DUN DUUUUUUUN!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it looks like either Harry is starting to like Rose... Or he is on some gooooooood drugs Lmfao! 
> 
> But yeah. I'm playing Harry the way I saw him; all cute and cuddly and traumatized like a grown up Squee! or... something. XD I always thought Harry had the potential to be a pretty nice guy and was one in general (even if he is a little spoiled lol... just a little.. HAH!) but they didn't really show you much in the movie except glimpses of it throughout all three movies and then shove it in your face at the end when he died and when he had amnesia. Don't worry, he's still a traumatized, sociopath, but he is learning to better manage his damage. FINGERS CROSSED! XD
> 
> Okay so I feel like I should clarify some things just because I'm all nice like that and I have the time. Lmfao.
> 
> Yes, yes I know what you are thinking dear readers! "If you have the time, why aren't you writing or working on the next chapter? Yargh! What could you possibly have to say that we don't already know or whatever!"
> 
> Annnnnywho! I would firstly like to say again that this fanfiction is based on the third Spider-Man movie and thus the characters are going to be like they are in the movie series; meaning MOST of them (this excludes Harry, Norman, my OC, the symbiote, Bernard and whoever else I decide upon) will suck more than a dehydrated vampire with cotton mouth. Lmfao okay?
> 
> All righty then! Oh and this fanfic will have as much Spider-Man and Mary Jane Bashing as I see fit, which means I will torment them because they sucked so badly in the movie they just deserve it, even though I could probably do more/worse to them… Maybe another fanfic I will lol like "A Black Cat & a White Coat" or something, who knows!
> 
> As for re-naming certain characters who are left to be named later… *cough* Venom *cough* Well maybe lol! But there are a few others (the exact amount is left unknown even to me so far). However, it may happen! So keep yer fire ant pants on. lol
> 
> Again I feel it should be said/read that these chapters are already planned out and most have been written, they are just going through editing when I have the time. I do have a life yah know. Lmfao So yeah. Although I do appreciate suggestions, useful feedback and just people saying how much they liked it! Yay~!
> 
> Now, as anyone can see Rose/The Symbiote are the main characters here, Harry is the love interest, Spidey is the tormented entertainment, Penny is the cuteness, Sandman her dad so yeah he has to be in it, Bernard is kinda like Harry's unknown (to Harry because he's busy being all bonkers and cute) Wingman Lmfao, and MJ is to be bashed more brutally than Peter (that's right, I said it XD), so yeah. Basically put, the main characters (and Harry) get their points of view more in depth than oh say, Peter Parker; the guy who will not have his every inner thought and feeling typed out like Rose will because I have something planned for him.
> 
> Instead he will simply be shown as freaking out, frightened or panicked by finding out that Venom is still alive and on da loose. I try to show things through actions and expressions, etc. rather than the constant thought bubbles lol. Because it's not like they can ALL read each other minds, but it is easy to read another persons body language (if you have the common sense to do so like Rose does.)
> 
> So yeah, all (or at least most) will hopefully be revealed in later chapters of "Thank You For the Venom" lol like any story you have to be patient, but thankfully (for me) and hellishly tormenting (for you the reader(s)) lol, you can't skip to the end and peek at what the ending will be… And to that I say KUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! 
> 
> Ahem! Anywho, thank you for reading and sticking with the fanfic so far!


	6. Mister Sandman Bring Me a Dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rose keeps her promise.

For the rest of the day, Rose tended to what was needed; trying to distract herself from the nightmare that morning. The young woman sighed as she finished up some paperwork. Rose had quite a few painful memories that she hated remembering, and that dream showed two of them.

She'd done so much to try and escape her past. It was one of the main reasons she worked such long shifts; that way by the time she _did_ fall asleep she'd be too tired to dream. Even that only worked so well…

But it wasn't like brooding about it would change any of it, so she tried to stay in a good mood. And although they had been bothering her less and less over the years. It still didn't mean she liked them when they did pop up…

Venom stayed quiet as it took in her feelings and thoughts. It seemed it's little host was experiencing some unpleasant memories. It didn't like it when it's host was upset about anything. It wanted to try to help her sleep better from now on. But that would require a stronger bond than their temporary one… Until then, it decided to help distract her.

' _What is this "homecare" the rich boy spoke of? We don't quite understand…'_

' _It means that he gets to stay at home for the rest of his recovery and I will be going there to tend to him rather than here. And of course we can't forget that he wants full-time care. That means we'll be there a lot and probably for most of the day… I'll probably bored out of my mind though.'_ She filed the documents appropriately, pausing thoughtfully for a moment.

' _Hmm, but I suppose it won't be_ _ **so**_ _bad… It's better than tending to some of these whiny patients my boss pushed on me. They're either a bunch of annoying rich people who are so old I'm surprised they aren't dust piles with wallets, or hypochondriacs who just want to feel special.'_

' _If we don't like them then why did we get so upset earlier?'_

' _Because, I didn't even get a choice on the matter! After all that I've done to become a doctor and join a private practice group so that I_ _ **could**_ _have some control over something, I get traded off like a lunchtime snack! I mean yeah, my boss usually pushes these irksome human piggy banks at me because of my skill or whatever, but I at least get to pick the least annoying ones… And for that I get special cases when they come in.'_ She could imagine the Symbiote nodding.

' _Oh, we see… Well, from what we have seen, we should still be careful around this Goblin Boy. We never know how he will turn out once he is well…'_ At this she smiled reassuringly.

"We'll be fine… We always are…"

Finally her shift came to an end and as she headed out, she turned a corner and teleported to the top of one of the buildings in the middle of the city and closed her eyes.

"Okay, time to see if we can keep that promise…" Rose began using their ability to find others, so that she could find the Sandman. The minutes passed and she couldn't seem to find him. Rose was about to give up when she felt it rather than saw it this time!

"There! It's faint… But I can feel where he is… He must be on the move in his sand form… Probably why we can't find him so easily… Pretty smart really."

At that she opened her eyes and internally locked onto his signal; just as she had done with Spider-Man. While she had been busy of course, the symbiote had taken the liberty of transforming her into their black suit.

Smiling at this, she decided that it would be quicker to teleport close by to his exact location. So she did, and once she took a look around, they were able to see his cloud of sand slipping along the rooftops. She pounced gracefully and silently onto the wall of the building and quickly scaled it; doing a little flip as she landed a ways behind him.

"Well hello there, Sandy! Mind if we have a chat?" The mass of sand stopped dead, before it whirled into a little cyclone; Flint Marko's form materializing with a rather displeased look on his face.

"Do I know you?" Came his gruff voice.

"Yes and no. You remember that twit Eddie Brock?" The man nodded so she continued as smoothly as ever.

"He had this same black suit, but since he was dumb enough to leap at a bomb, I'm it's host now. And for now, we are still called Venom." The man seemed to become a bit suspicious. He didn't like that Brock fellow, so he had his doubts that this new Venom could be much better.

"So what is it that you want? I haven't got all night." She raised her hand and wagged her pointer finger.

"Tsk, tsk, Sandy! And after we went through all the trouble to bring you a present!" Using the same hand, she flattened her palm as a black blob bubbled up from it. Then the black mass receded as the bundle of letters appeared. She extended them out to him.

Flint regarded her for a moment before stretching out an arm; extending it all the way over to grab the letters before retracting back to normal. At first the ex-con just stared at the parchment in his hand in disbelief. Then he hesitantly untied the ribbon; being as delicate as possible. He opened one of the letters to see that it was indeed from his pretty little Penny. They watched him quietly; head tilted slightly to the side as they observed his reactions.

"I… _Thank you_ … But, how did you get these?! And how did you…" She raised a hand to cut him off, smiling kindly; which was quite a feet for having such dangerous looking fanged teeth.

"A thief took her as a hostage yesterday. But she's fine, for we saved her and took her home. Before we left, she asked if we would seek you out and give you these letters, and a message from her."

"Wh-what message?" His hardened expression had softened and one could see the father coming out from behind the tough guy exterior. It made Rose feel somberly envious in that moment. She thought Penny was a pretty lucky kid to have a dad who cared so much about her, and yet it made her feel good to have been able to help them both out.

"She wants you to know that she misses you very much." Their tone was soft and expressed the appropriate emotion for the sentiment they needed to get across. If he could have cried, his eyes probably would have watered.

Instead, he cleared his throat and tried to keep composed, but from the green haired woman's smile, it was obvious she saw that under everything he had a tender heart. So he just smiled back; though a little sorrowfully.

"You know, when she was talking to us, we noticed how pale she was and how there was an oxygen tank beside her window…" Flint's eyes narrowed. Venom waved their hand nonchalantly.

"Relax Sandy, we have no malice toward her. She is an innocent. We are merely curious because we might be able to help…"

Thoroughly taken aback, the muscular man frowned, but they could see the hope welling up in his eyes through the suspicion.

"How?" He asked very slowly.

"Heh, we know of a doctor who will treat her… All expenses paid too! No need for daddy dearest to steal." His eyes widened, but it was clear he was still distrustful. Then again Rose decided, he had every right to be.

"And what do you want from me in return?"

"Hmm…" They pressed a finger to their lips in a playfully thoughtful way.

"We have nothing we want from you. But, we suppose you can just owe us a favor… Do we have an accord?" Venom held out their slender, clawed hand again and waited coolly. Sandman approached and after a split second of hesitation, he accepted the offered appendage and nodded.

"Yes."

"Lovely!" Flint felt something soft and square poking at the hand he was using to shake Venom's. When he pulled back he saw a folded piece of paper in the palm of his hand. He looked at her and she just smiled and waited. He unfolded and read it. It was the information of the physician's name and other contact information.

"Don't worry. We will make sure the doctor goes through the mother for you. All you have to do is call at the time and day specified and we can schedule it so that your daughter may see you."

He nodded and when they had hashed out a few other details and what he could tell them about Penny's illness; they parted ways and Venom decided to web-sling back home since it was such a nice night to be out.

Flint stopped a ways away; watching the mysterious black suited woman as she faded into the distance. He clutched the letters to his heart and whispered to himself.

"Maybe my luck isn't so bad after all…" And as he turned back to sand and whisked himself away, his hopeful smile could be seen before disappearing into the course granules.

* * *

**To Be Continued!**


	7. Beside Manner in the Manor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rose has her first day as a homecase physician and Harry behaves comically.

The next morning, as promised, Rose was dressed in her work attire, as she stopped outside on the street before the Osborn Estate… or rather, building. As she gazed at the tall piece of architecture; and much to her surprise, she found it to be an incredibly elegant and tasteful manor! Unlike some rich places she'd seen, that could be down right tacky and predictable. It reminded her of something from a fairytale; especially near the top that was decorated with pale green.

Rose noticed a hi-tech looking video intercom and pressed the button; so that she could be buzzed into the building. There was a minute of silence before Bernard's familiar face popped up on the screen above the speaker.

"Good morning Dr. Aconitum! The elevator is inside, to your left. Top floor. Please, do come in!" As soon as he said that, the gates opened quietly. The screen went blank before she could even respond.

"Th-thanks…" She ended up muttering to the air. With a shrug she headed inside to said elevator; pressing the button for the top floor as directed.

Rose found herself outside of a nice doorway as the doors of the elevator slid open. She approached it and knocked. And on cue once again, one of the large, fancy looking wooden door opened and there stood the kindly old butler to greet her. She smiled and gave a curt bow of her head in a gesture of thanks, as he bid her enter.

"Morning Bernard and thank you." The physician turned to look at her surroundings.

' _Yep… Looks like a rich person lives here…'_

Of course she didn't mean that in an offensive way or anything… Well not _really_. But looking around at all the many, many fancy antiques and curios, etc. it was pretty obvious this Harry guy was loaded.

Quite frankly, she'd lived so long without money as a kid and all she had been through, that she'd never found a liking for anything but the simple things; like having a decent amount to eat and someplace to live.

The only thing she found likeable in this place though was how the manor itself looked; lovely shades of ivory, green and black, and a few other colors that complimented each other. It all had that same charming effect the outside of it gave off; if not much more so.

"A beautiful place isn't it? Shame the young Master lives here all by himself…" Bernard's words startled and snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Y-yes, quite lovely." Then as what he'd said actually hit her, she frowned and turned to look at him.

"He does? In such a huge place?" The butler nodded and it only caused her expression to sadden.

' _How lonesome a life that must be…'_ Both she and Venom were in agreement on her thought. She just couldn't understand how anyone could live in such a huge place all by themselves…

Although she was sure that even though Bernard was here, the place still must seem so desolate. Even though she had much of the memories the symbiote had retained from Peter Parker; she hadn't had time to sort through everything. So there were still things that surprised her.

Bernard motioned for her to follow him and so she did; all the way to a set of double doors. He knocked softly and waited for permission, but was met with silence. He opened one of the dark green doors; gesturing for her to enter as well as he held the door open for her.

Once again she thanked the man; as it was proper manners to do so. She turned her attention on the room, and she could see that it was Harry's bedroom.

It was a rather large (compared to hers), white room with shades of brown, gold, black, and green that decorated all that resided in it. On the king sized four poster bed lay Harry; a similar but much better looking set-up of machines and the like, were hooked up to him as they had been in his room at the hospital.

"My apologies Dr. Aconitum, he was awake earlier, but it would seem Master Harry has fallen asleep…" He looked both surprised and apologetic.

"No worries. It's normal for him to be tired after having been through the stress of being transported from the hospital to here so early in the morning. Did he have any trouble along the way?" Such things didn't bother her or slow her down, in fact she was glad that he was getting enough rest.

Especially since that would mean she didn't have to work while he tried to make, what always seemed to be, awkward attempts at conversation or staring at her. She approached the slumbering young man and began checking the medical equipment to make sure it was hooked up and running correctly, before checking his current vitals.

"No ma'am. In fact he seemed rather glad to be leaving the hospital."

"Heh, can't say I blame him… They can be rather dreary places. Especially to someone as sunny as Mr. Osborn." At this the butler beamed; still standing poised by the door. He was glad that someone other than himself thought the young Master was cheery, and that he hadn't just been getting his hopes up. After all, the last two times he could remember the boy being in such spirits was when he was very, very little and when Harry had lost his memory temporarily.

"If you'll please excuse me, I have other business to attend to."

"By all means, you are excused." Rose replied politely; not turning away from her work as she grabbed a chart from off the bedside table and began jotting down information. Bernard found her professionalism to be rather refreshing for someone her age as he quietly left the room; shutting the door behind him.

The only sound that filled the room were the soft beeps and humming of the machines, Harry's shallow breathing, and the sound of pen scratching against paper. It would have been a lot like work, except this place smelled far nicer and had better atmosphere. Perhaps… It wouldn't be as bad as she first figured it might be?

"Mmfh… Morning!" She heard a groggy yet pleased voice say from the bed beside her. Her pale grey eyes turned from the chart to him, as the rest of her body followed.

"Ah, awake at last. Good morning Harry. How are you feeling today?"

The first thing he noticed when he woke up, was that there was a familiar, honey like voice speaking in soft tones to another person, he recognized as Bernard. But he didn't want to open his eyes just yet. He was trying to make out what was being said by the pleasant female voice.

She said he was "sunny" and for some reason, that little comment caused a little fluttering sensation in his stomach.

' _Man… What kind of drugs are they giving me anyways?'_ But then the butler excused himself and he realized they were alone… in _his bedroom_ … while he was barely dressed in one of those hospital gowns…!

He decided to pretend to be asleep for a few more minutes, so as not to seem like he was eavesdropping, which he had been. So instead, he listened to her light movements as she tended to things and the sound of her writing other stuff down; the feel of her phantom touches here and there on his body, causing him to want to shudder.

That was when Harry decided that it was time to pretend to wake up and talk to her, before he felt any more strange; cleverly using his pseudo attempt at stirring to cover the shiver she'd caused him to feel.

"Much better than the first day." He wanted to try and sit up, but found he was too stiff to do it on his own.

"Uhm… Doc, could you-" but his words fell short as she had already put her chart down so that she could assist him. He wondered how exactly she had known, and at his confused expression, she smiled a little.

"I saw you trying to sit up and figured that's what you needed help with." Harry smiled, glad to have a doctor who paid attention, rather than just getting paid. She helped him to slowly sit up and fluffed his pillows to make him more comfortable. He gave a groan at the feeling of his sore, aching muscles.

"Well, you have been in bed for a few days…" Rose commented in a matter of fact way, answering the question he'd been thinking.

He made to open his mouth and ask her something, but she beat him to it with an amused roll of her eyes and a reply to match.

"I'm not psychic Harry, I'm just used to the questions is all." Rose waited for him to get situated by getting her examination tools all set up on a sterile tray; that sat on a movable table like the ones at the hospital. But this one was all new; everything was. It was the best of the best, and everything gleamed pleasantly or was a bright shade of white from it being cleaned but never used.

"Pretty cool, huh? Bernard and I made sure you'd have everything you would need! It looks a lot nicer than the old, gloomy junk at that hospital, doesn't it?" He commented like a proud child who was trying to impress another kid with how much cooler his toys were than theirs, but with an attitude that showed he clearly didn't realize that it was a little insulting.

Rose, decided not to take it as an insult, since Harry was probably used to getting whatever he wanted, and he really did mean well. She knew he would want nice, new things to be used on him (who wouldn't?), but it was clear he wanted to make sure she had good tools to work with too, which was very nice. So, she maintained her small smile.

"Yes, it is all very nice. Thank you for your consideration."

That made Harry's smile widen and he began twiddling his thumbs merrily; seeing as they seemed to be the few parts of his body that didn't hurt him when he tried to move them.

She pulled the tray over beside the bed and began with the examination. Even though they had done this procedure before in the hospital, Harry still couldn't get over the effect her close proximity had on him.

His cheeks felt warm and the warmth seemed to spread throughout the rest of his body; especially the areas she lightly touched. But the worst part was he wasn't sure why!

**(A/N: Okay at this point I'd like to say that, yes I know, Harry has dated MJ and all that, but we ALL saw how well that worked out. And though he had feelings for her, LOVE as in REAL LOVE can make you feel much stronger things and no matter how old you are, if you have never really been in love, most of the time you don't really know what's going on or what it is. Lmfao at least that's what I've come to learn. So, yeah, his feelings weren't so much love as just hormones mixed with confusing emotions involving friendship/lust for the chick everyone was trying to mount at their school which is what he felt for Mary Jane from how I saw it. Lmfao even Norman pretty much stated that! So now he is going to experience true feelings of love and oh what a fun ride that's gonna be!)**

He did his best to keep as calm as he could. But what with her pulling up his gown enough to check on his bruised legs, he couldn't help the pink that dusted his cheeks as shyness began to creep in; at least she did say that they looked to be healed. So, she moved on up and untied the strings behind his neck; pulling the gown down this time to check over everything else.

She was glad all the fractures (from what she could tell with her powers), bruises and other abrasions had cleared up so quickly, from his stay at the hospital. Seems that Goblin Serum worked wonders after all. Harry watched her in fascination throughout the whole examination; much more so than he had back at the hospital. Now that he wasn't so drugged and was sitting up, he was able to get a better look at her. And _oh_ what a view!

The physician was only a few inches shorter than him, but just taller than Mary Jane; so if they were both standing up, he could probably look right into her eyes with just a small tilt downward of his head.

And she had a rather fair complexion; probably from being cooped up in that hospital for so long he guessed, but he thought it suited her. Her black hair was so dark that it looked like it had a bluish tint to it in the light. He hadn't noticed that in the dim light of the hospital room… It framed her delicate features, but was out of her face, and it looked so soft… like raven feathers…

If only his arms didn't hurt, he'd reach out and touch it… But, she _was_ pretty close. Maybe if he just… Harry gave himself a mental shake and turned his attention to ceiling, as it had become oh so interesting to him now!

' _She's waaaay too close for me to be looking at her like_ _ **that**_ _…'_ He thought while trying not to blush, but it didn't seem to be working very well. As she changed the bandages on his chest wound, he gasped; more in being startled from his ceiling gazing than pain, as he felt gloved fingers gingerly dabbing over the area to clean it.

"Sorry." She murmured softly and earnestly.

"I-it's okay… That stuff just feels a-a little cold." Blushing, he was so glad she was too busy being engrossed in what she was doing to see his face. After a few more minutes of cleaning, applying what needed applying and bandaging, did she pull away to view her work. He quietly exhaled a breath he didn't know he'd been holding; feeling relieved and a little sad that she wasn't so close to him anymore.

"Hmm, are you all right Harry? You seem a bit flushed." And once again she was touching him; pulling off a rubber glove to feel his forehead with the back of her hand; that he found to be surprisingly soft.

"Do you feel feverish?" Compared to his heated skin, her hand felt pleasantly cool and he gave a little gasp at the sudden skin to skin contact.

"I-I'm fine." He pulled himself away from her hand; leaning back a little. Harry reached up and pushed her hand away; trying hard not to touch her all at the same time, which was a little difficult.

"If you feel unwell you really should tell me. You are in no condition to try and act tough or any silly notion of the sort." Rose frowned, but did not try to touch him again; much to his relief. Maybe having her as his homecare physician wasn't such a good idea as he'd assumed?

"I'm not… Its just…" He tried to think of something, but his mind had gone blank.

"Not comfortable with being touched?" She offered with a quirked brow.

"Yeah… Something like that…" Rose smiled in understanding.

"Oh, well that's fine." Harry gave another sigh of relief; more audible this time as he smiled brightly. Though she found it odd he was just now having issues with the physical contact…

"Unfortunately, I have no choice but to touch you… Sorry, but it's kinda my job." She rubbed the back of her head with her ungloved hand while smiling apologetically when she noticed his smile falter some.

"Oh… Right." Wow… He felt really lame at the moment and he _really_ hoped she didn't think he was.

"It'll be okay. Just try to distract yourself from it." Harry smiled a little sheepishly and nodded.

' _Yeah… easier said than done, Doc…'_ Rose pulled off the other glove and tossed both into the waste bin in the corner of the room.

"Well, now that that is done, I had best do the usual paperwork." Her hand reached over and grabbed said paperwork; located on the chart, and pulled her pen back out of her white coat pocket.

"Wait… Seriously? Is that it?" He blinked in bewilderment; wondering if she was going to leave now. She raised her brow again and eyed him.

"Hmm? No, but I have to do this first before anything else."

"Well… What _else_ is it that you're supposed to do anyways?"

"Whatever you need really… Concerning your wellbeing that is. For example: I have to give you sponge baths, then when you are well enough to, I will help give you a shower or a real bath; in which I am to assist you with; until it is safe enough to do these things yourself. Same goes for helping you in and out of bed or a seat. And should I go with you somewhere; in your vehicle, and other things like that. If you still feel uncomfortable with me touching you, then you may want to request a male nurse or male doctor instead." Rose informed him politely; smiling apologetically again at the mention of touching him. It seemed she felt bad for having made him uncomfortable in any way, and for that he felt a little bad for having even brought it up.

"Oh, okay." He seemed to process this a bit slowly, because after a couple of seconds Harry's eyes widened and he turned beet red in the face; pulling his blanket up over his chest like an embarrassed, naked teenage girl that had a guy walk in on her.

"Wa-wait! You mean, you're going to see me naked?!" He exclaimed in shock. She blinked and nodded.

"Well, yeah, I mean, its not like I haven't before… I _did_ operate on you, ya know. Plus, I'm a doctor, so it's apart of my job." Rose was genuinely taken aback by his lack of this information and his shyness.

Having picked her as his homecare physician, she figured he had already taken this into account. Apparently, he hadn't thought that far ahead; either he was too tired from the medication, or perhaps some other reason. She didn't know, so she didn't care to think much more of it at the moment.

"O-oh…" His blush deepened and he pulled the covers up a little more; as if it was a magical blanket that would protect him from further embarrassment or something. She raised a curious brow.

"Mr. Osborn-" He frowned in a pouty way and piped up. "It's Harry!" Rose sighed softly and continued.

"Right… Harry, I'm a doctor, I see people naked almost every day, and it's not like Bernard is strong enough to do all of this. I've given sponge baths and such before so you really shouldn't be so flustered. But… if it bothers you _that much,_ you can request another physician."

As Rose said this, something in him seemed to change from embarrassed boy to what she recognized all too well as a panicked child.

"N-no!" He said a little too loud; his voice echoing around the room a little. He lowered the blanket; seeming to forget all about his shyness in his alarm.

"I mean… I'm sorry. I shouldn't be so weird about this, but I still want _you_ to treat me! I don't think I'd feel comfortable with anyone else…!" Harry blushed a little as he spoke hurriedly, but still seemed a bit upset.

Rose hadn't expected such an odd outburst, but as she looked at him, the thought occurred that he must have grown some kind of attachment to her. That and he seemed to have issues with being alone; apart from other things that is…

She couldn't fault him for that… Rose smiled warmly at how sweet and innocent he could be.

"Very well, besides… It would probably be a big hassle trying to arrange for another doctor and everything."

Harry's spirits seemed to lift and he felt relieved again.

"Now that that's settled… I had better get your sponge bath ready!" Harry blushed again and she chortled in amusement as she went around the room and then to his bathroom to get it all ready.

' _Oh dear lord, she's_ _ **serious**_ _!'_

He felt his blind eye twitch and heaved a sigh of defeat; bowing his head slightly. He hoped his body didn't do anything to embarrass him, as he tried not to think about all the touching that would ensue in the moments to come.

Setting the tray of instruments aside, she replaced it with the small basin filled with warm water.

"If you like, I can wear gloves?" Harry considered for a moment, but decided he didn't think the smell of wet surgical gloves would be a very pleasant one, since they smelled pretty weird normally, and he shook his head no.

She nodded and proceeded to prep him; pulling the blankets all the way off of his body rather neatly, and removing the gown with such gentleness; that if he hadn't been watching with his own eyes, he doubted he would have noticed its absence. He sat there in his birthday suit and bandages; blushing madly and giving a shiver as the cool air hit his skin.

Rose didn't seem to notice the loss of clothes since a persons nakedness was the norm where she worked, and went about her work as usual; wetting a soft sponge and proceeding to clean every inch of him that wasn't bandaged, and taking great care as she did so.

Much to his astonishment, it felt very nice and refreshing! Harry thought the whole act would seem awkward and just downright weird and embarrassing. But, Rose handled herself with such professionalism and treated him so tenderly and with such care, that he felt appropriately pampered and cared for instead.

Harry sighed softly and closed his eyes; doing his best to help move and lift his stiff limbs to help her out. Rose had to try very hard not to laugh at how much Harry seemed to be enjoying himself.

It reminded her of a stray kitten she'd once taken in because of her feline fiend of a friend and given it a bath; the creature had made all sorts of cute sounds and expressions too and just couldn't seem to get tended too enough.

' _He may be rich and get whatever money can buy… But I don't think he gets properly pampered…'_

' _What do we mean?'_

' _I don't think he's ever had anyone give him any real attention or affection… At least not in a long time anyways.'_

' _What about his slave person?'_

' _Pfft! Just look at how he reacts to a little physical contact! Do you really think he's used to getting that? And no offense, but, it isn't really a Butler's place to do that sort of thing; at least I've never known it to be any other way from all the rich kids I've met.'_ At this Venom seemed to understand what she meant.

Then, as soon as it seemed to have started, it ended all too quickly for Harry, as she patted him dry and moved to pull the covers up over him; deciding that the gown was just getting in the way and if he needed to, he had a robe hanging up beside him to cover up with. Sp, she tossed it into the trash.

"Thanks." He grinned and seemed to be feeling a lot better now that he was cleaner; it was like she had washed all the unpleasantness of the hospital off of him.

"No problem."

She quickly cleaned up and was just re-entering the bedroom, when she saw Bernard coming in and pushing a little serving cart with him.

"Hope I'm not intruding Sir and Miss, but I thought you two might like some breakfast."

"Thanks Bernard!" He rubbed his stomach; suddenly feeling hungry as the smell of delicious food reached his nose.

"Yes, thank you very much Bernard. You didn't have to trouble yourself on my account." But he waved a dismissing hand and smiled.

"Nonsense, you are a guest. It would be rude not to offer you anything."

He carried a tray over to Harry and set it up on his lap. Harry looked over and saw that Rose needed some place to sit with her tray, so since his bed was so roomy, he patted the spot beside himself and smiled.

"You can sit beside me, Dr. Aconitum! I don't mind!" He said in his sunny way.

Rose hesitated for a moment; wondering if it would really be okay, but then gave a nod and accepted the tray offered to her before climbing onto the bed next to Harry, and she set the tray in her lap.

"Thank you, Harry. That was very nice of you."

He gave a little laugh; which thankfully wasn't all that painful as his first attempts, and he picked up his fork. Bernard waited until Harry gave him a dismissing gesture before leaving. A few minutes passed as they ate in comfortable silence.

"Hey Dr. Aconitum…?" She looked up from her plate at the soft tone.

"Yes?" Harry grinned sheepishly and poked at the food on his plate; as he didn't look up from it.

"Um… I was wondering… Could I call you Rose instead?"

Harry thought she'd say no and/or get mad at him, since that's a response he's used to getting with women when he asks simple questions… Okay well not "women" so much as Mary Jane.

"If you like." His head snapped up at that and the action caused him to regret the sudden movement as he gave a small cringe.

"R-really?" She nodded, like it wasn't a big thing, because it really wasn't.

"Well yeah. I mean, you're letting me call you Harry." Then she smirked at him teasingly.

"Plus I've seen you naked, so I think that pretty much kills our chances at formality, don't you?"

Harry burst out laughing; reaching up to place a hand against his chest as it hurt, but he couldn't seem to stifle his mirth. She chuckled as well and took a sip of her juice; Harry thought it her little laugh was a nice sound.

"Heh, you're so weird." He managed to say, his laughter finally subsided and he gingerly rubbed his chest.

"Is that bad?" She inquired in her usual calm and friendly manner, as she smiled over at him.

"No, I like it." He blushed and grinned; seeming happy as they continued to eat. When they were done, she took both of their trays and after he told her where it was, she took them to the kitchen and put them in the sink; running water over them so they could soak.

When she returned, she saw that he had fallen asleep. Rose pulled the covers over him to tuck him in. Dr. Aconitum smiled and shook her head in amusement before she gave a quick look at his vitals, and then found a chair to place beside his bed for her to sit on.

Not much time had passed since she arrived and she wondered what else she would need to do. This was her first time doing the homecare thing, and she was working off of information she had studied at this point and also what a few of her fellow private practice co-workers had done. After a few minutes of just watching Harry sleep, she felt rather bored and decided to take a better look around the place.

Rose stood outside his room in the hallway and closed her eyes as she searched those foreign memories; seeing where Peter had gone when he was here. It seemed even he hadn't been around the place much, but she did see the office room where Harry's father had been and she decided to stay away from that place.

No sense in upsetting her patient, plus she just seemed to get a bad vibe from that room; knowing all too well that that is where the Green Goblin's kept their gear. So, she wandered around, using their ability and found Bernard cleaning a room.

"Oh, hello Doctor! Is there something I can do for you?"

"I'm just a little bored is all… Harry fell asleep again. Is there anything around here to read while I wait?" Bernard thought and frowned.

"My late Master Osborn's office has books, but I don't think Master Harry wants those to be touched… Perhaps the Young Master wouldn't mind it if you watched the television in his room? If you kept it quiet that is." She blinked and it was her turn to frown.

"What television?"

Bernard smiled and had her follow him back to Harry's room. He picked up a remote on Harry's beside table and pushed a button; making sure to show her which one. The wall across from Harry's bed opened up and she saw a TV and entertainment system that was built inside the hidden compartment of the wall. Her eyes widened.

"That… Is _really_ cool…"

Bernard tried not to laugh and handed her the remote after showing her which buttons to use. Rose was really more of a medical equipment kind of person, so she didn't really know much else besides the basic technology; like her own TV with the tiny remote that only had a few buttons. Not so much the fancy magical wall television with its large remote and all the tiny buttons; most of which she had no idea what they were for.

The physician made sure to listen and remember as best she could and seemed to think she got the gist of it. When she went to push a button, that she thought was supposed to turn on the TV, nothing happened…

But then her eye twitched when she looked up to see that the ceiling fan had come on.

' _Damn… buttons…'_ Bernard smiled and corrected it, then turned on the television and made sure the volume was off and the closed captions were on. Thank goodness for tech. savvy Butlers!

She thanked him; a little embarrassed, as he left and she found a chair in the corner of the room and put it next to the bed before sitting down on it. Harry was out for a few hours and she passed the time by periodically checking on him and watching cartoons. Bernard had been kind enough to offer for her to eat lunch with him though, and that was nice.

They spoke mainly about cooking and he told her a few interesting things about the mansion; like where she could go and where she probably shouldn't, since they were rooms with Norman Osborn's things in them. Such as his lab, office, bedroom, or Harry's late mother's room, and basically that sort of thing.

However, she wasn't even interested in those places anyways so, she nodded and said she'd do her best to avoid them. Once she was done, she thanked him again, offered to help with dishes and was of course told it was "Quite all right." and with a shrug, she went back to Harry's room to try and pass the time until it was time for her to leave.

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED! DUN DUN DUUUUUN!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The way I see Harry seems a bit OOC... I dunno. Lmfao, I mean, he's a freakin' cute, spoiled, sociopath, how are you supposed to write that? XD The answer is: in the most amusing way possible! KUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH! 
> 
> ALSO, I just watched some of the Spidey movie and realized that "wait... Harry lives in a building and NOT an actual mansion thingy! ~le gasp~" XD so yeah, I had to re-write that scene... Ah well!
> 
> Lmfao. So anywho! Yeah. I don't know much about what a homecare doctor like Rose would do, so I figured stuff that Harry doesn't trust a nurse or anyone else to do, and stuff that Bernard is too old or whatever to do. XD I told ya'll I'm wingin' this! Plus since it is fanfiction, I'm saying this is what happens because it makes it all that much more fun! Boo-Yah~!
> 
> YAY! SPOUGE BATHS! XD yeah... someone like Harry would have such conflicting feelings about that... But hey, Villains need love too! Kuwahahahahah! So, it looks like he is enjoying this rare taste of some genuine love/affection. The kind that not even therapy/psychiatry can give nor money can buy! XD


	8. Blathering Blatherskite!

It was late afternoon by the time Harry woke up again and when he opened his eyes; with his good one, he saw her sitting in a chair next to his bed with her chin propped up on her elbow as she watched television.

It made him feel all warm and giddy at the thought of her staying by his side like that; waiting for him to wake up, making sure he was okay. Of course she had kept herself just barely busy tending to him even while he slept, but still, she was pretty bored out of her gourd by now.

Rose was very glad to have Venom as company all the same. But the symbiote didn't seem all that fond of Harry or her current situation. And it shared these feelings and thoughts with her.

It didn't like how attached the human seemed to be getting to it's host, especially after it had seen what kind of mischief and mayhem the boy was capable of; even toward his so-called "best friends" Peter Parker and Mary Jane.

But she reasoned that Harry was acting out of anger from all that Peter had done to him and thought he had done to him, and also that Mary Jane had wronged the lad as well by pretending to love him and be his girlfriend; when in fact she was just with Harry for the money, being the whore that she is.

And Venom could understand, but still it harbored some ill feelings from it's bond with Spider-Man, so it would probably stay suspicious of Harry until proven otherwise. And she tried not to mind, it was just trying to protect her. Rose hated to admit it though, but even she wondered just how mentally stable Harry was and how long he would remain that way.

Harry watched her quietly as she seemed to be in a world of her own; seeming so pensive that he wondered what she was thinking about.

"Hey Doc. Everything okay?" She seemed a bit startled as her eyes focused and snapped in his direction, before she calmed and the rest of her body followed her gaze.

"Ah, yes Harry. All is well. Enjoy your nap?" He gave a smile and a nod.

"Yeah, I feel refreshed! So whatcha watching?" Harry's attention was caught by the pretty colors of the cartoon playing on the screen and he had that sort of cute and comical "Ooooooo!" face that little kids usually get. She chuckled in amusement and turned up the volume just enough for them to hear but still converse.

"It's called "Darkwing Duck". I like the slapstick comedy and such. Can't go wrong with classics."

Harry's eyes widened as he remembered why it seemed so familiar.

"OH! I know this cartoon! I used to watch it when I was little!" She raised a brow and decided to tease him a little.

"Really? I wouldn't have pegged you for liking this. I would've thought you were more of a "Ducktales" kinda guy." At this Harry laughed and rubbed his chest.

"Yeah, I like that one too! Gizmoduck is awesome!" It was her turn to laugh, but she nodded in agreement and they fell back into comfortable silence to watch it.

Every now and then one of them would make a comment or they'd both laugh at certain parts; which was mainly when the good guys were getting whooped up by the villains.

By the time the cartoon had ended and some annoying show with live actors came on, they ended up turning it off.

"Hahah, I haven't seen that since I was a kid… Its so weird seeing something like that now that I'm old enough to get all the witty and weird humor." Harry ran a hand through his curly hair; trying to smooth out the bed head he was pretty sure he had from his constant napping.

Rose smiled cheerfully; she hadn't enjoyed being in someone else's company in a really, really long time. Sure she could tolerate most and even try to find something the tiniest bit pleasant about others; who were usually her patients or co-workers, to keep from going bat-crap crazy and going on a mass murder spree.

But, to find someone whose presence she actually LIKED to be in? Well, besides the symbiote and a few friends whom she could all count on one hand, it seemed that person was Harry Osborn.

"Yeah, cartoons can be pretty weird from what I've seen…" Rose would glance at Harry's bedside clock; the red numbers read that it was 7:21pm.

"It's getting pretty late Harry. I think I should get going soon." Both she and Harry shared a frown; clearly both of them had been enjoying the day.

"Right… Well, I guess there isn't much else you can do. Uhm… You're coming back tomorrow, right?" For someone who was both her patient and in a way her boss, he didn't seem to act like the usual brat patients; who thought they could demand everything of her. She smiled warmly at him and he blushed; feeling a tingly sensation throughout his body as her tone matched that expression.

"As long as you need me, you'll find me at your side Harry."

His face became even redder after hearing that and didn't seem to let up as Rose went about her routine for the last time for that evening. They bid each other goodnight and she tucked him in before heading out.

"Call me if you need anything." Rose said as she began to close the door behind her.

" _Anything_?" He called questioningly and rather hesitantly. Rose chortled in amusement as she raised an eyebrow.

"Well, I don't know about _anything…_ Just ask and I'll see what I can do." She tried to stifle her mirth at how red his face got at that and he began stammering adorably.

"N-no! That's not what I meant! I was just- I, uhm- you see…" Rose closed the door and started laughing as she strolled to the entrance of the manner.

The physician could hear him hollering "I DIDN'T MEAN IT LIKE THAT ROSE!" In an utterly embarrassed and apologetic tone. Bernard raised a curious and somewhat concerned eyebrow, but her laughter and the dismissing gesture that clearly meant "it's okay", made him feel a bit at ease; though still very curious as to what had happened between them.

And once she left, the servant would try to inquire to his master what was the matter, as the young man would simply lie on his back, with a pillow over his face as he said in a muffled and exasperatedly mortified tone "I do NOT want to talk about it!", Bernard decided it was better left alone as he went back to his bulter-y duties; going to bed when all was done.

* * *

**To be continued! Again!**


	9. MJ Bashing: Now with More Bash!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Mary Jane gets bad news and Tabitha Tenshi is introduced!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning(s): May contain some traumatizingness, some kind of language, I dunno... I cannot be held accountable for ANYTHING I do/write/say, etc. So read at your own risk. Kuwahahahahah!
> 
> Note(s): This chapter is mostly from MJ's point of view (P.O.V.) so that's why it reads the way it does. It's what I think is actually going on in that empty little head of hers. I really hated writing this, but it was for the good of the fanfic/storyline because reviewers on the other site this is on asked for MJ bashing. LoL

Now, let’s rewind back to earlier that morning and shine some light on what’s been going on with a certain redhead, shall we!?It has been a few days since that whole incident with being held hostage by Venom and Sandman, etc, but Mary Jane Watson, was still being her usual melodramatic skank self.

Yes, she was still trying to become famous and all that overrated junk, that only attention whores crave, but that‘s just how she is. Although, she had to admit, lately she hadn’t been feeling so well. But she couldn’t quite put her finger on why that was. It had all started a couple or so weeks ago she guessed...

The wannabe actress had been having near constant headaches; and over the counter meds barely took the edge off. And she felt more irritable than usual, which didn’t help when she was trying to maintain her usual sweet and innocent fake demeanor. She just couldn’t understand.

Maybe she’d caught some kind of bug or it was all the stress from her every day life? The witless Watson had no idea, but she was rudely awakened pretty early that morning by the sound of her phone ringing. Stumbling ungracefully out of bed; rubbing her forehead, she picked up the phone and said rather sleepily.

“Hello?”

“Good morning! Is a Mary Jane Watson there?”

A pleasant female voice asked.

“Yes, I’m Mary Jane.” She began to feel more awake and excited; temporarily forgetting how crappy she’d been feeling and wondering if perhaps this was a call for some acting or singing gig.

“Oh, good. Well, this is Nurse Roberts from the Kane Hospital. I’m calling to let you know that your test results are done, so that you can make an appointment to come in, and the doctor handling the case can explain the results to you.”

“Okay. Uhm… When do you have an opening?” MJ’s face fell into a frown as she realized it was NOT a gig; the throbbing in her skull coming back in full force.

Faint typing could be heard on the other side of the phone.

“Hmm, well let me see… If you want, the doctor handling your case has an opening at 9am today.”

Mary Jane looked over at her clock.

“All right, I’ll take that one.” It was about an hour away from the appointment time, so she’d have plenty of time to get there on foot. And she didn’t have work or anything until later. So once the nurse told her it was confirmed, she quickly hung up without thinking (which wasn’t unusual for her), and got dressed in some of her every day skimpy clothing; that was tight in all the wrong places.

The redhead sprayed on some nasty stinking, cheap perfume; since showering was something she could do tomorrow or whenever. Besides, she didn’t think she smelled too bad from having worked late last night; but she was oblivious to how bad her own judgment was anyway, as she headed out to her appointment.

She’d made it quite a ways from her apartment and had been passing by a coffee shop in her usual gloomy, depressing drama queen mood, when she suddenly felt like someone was watching her. The redhead frowned; taking a quick look around.

Mary Jane didn’t see anyone she recognized and after a shrug, she started on her way again; figuring that it was just paranoia from having recently been abducted by that Eddie Brock and Sandman. But, just as she was turning back to continue on her path, someone with a cup of very, VERY hot cup of coffee rammed straight into her!

The scalding liquid landed right on her chest and some splashed on her face; causing some redness and irritation to form splotches on her cheeks and chin. It sort of looked like she’d been attacked by a naughty child with rouge!

The man apologized, but she yelled and cursed at him rudely in anger and agitation; forgetting to keep up her “cute and sweet” routine entirely! The man stared flabbergasted as she pushed passed him; dismissing his apologetic offerings of the handkerchief he had in his hand.

_‘Ugh! It’s probably covered in his snot anyways! The sick jerk! How dare he not watch where he was going! It’s not my job to pay attention 24/7!’_

She thought huffily as she stomped away. In fact, she didn’t even turn around when she heard the man yelling something. What did she care? He was probably saying rude things anyway and she just didn’t have time for any of it.

By now she had completely decided to dismiss the theory that someone was watching her; chalking it up to stress and all that from being Spider-Man’s girlfriend. **(A/N: ~rolls eyes~ Yes, because nothing bad ever happens to annnnyone else but you! Ri-iiight.)** But the rest of her journey to the hospital was anything but pleasant. It seemed like she had woken up on the wrong side of the bed or something!

After the coffee incident, it wasn’t long afterward when she took a short cut through the park, and ended up with bread crumbs all over her from some old ladies tossing it around and not paying attention.

This caused a flock of pigeons to swoop down upon her; pecking, scratching and pooping all over her in the process of trying to get the tasty crumbs! She looked a trifle mess; her hair was mussed, her clothes covered in spots of white, grey and the other nasty colors that comprised pigeon poo, and the fabric had nicks and tears in it from their claws and beaks. Not to mention her face and arms had gotten scratched up as well!

And they hadn’t let up for some strange reason! In fact they chased her! Causing the confused and horrified failed actress to run the rest of the way to her destination; with many surprised looking passersby, some having taken pictures with their phones and laughing hysterically to her further humiliation! She just hoped no one recognized her! It was like something out of a bad horror flick about evil birds!

Once in the hospital, the redhead didn’t stop running until she reached the closest bathroom. In there she managed to calm herself down and clean up as best she could. But it was obvious to even her, that the outfit she had on was ruined.

There was no way she’d be able to return it now, like she’d been doing on and off for a while, when there was something she wanted but didn’t want to pay for it. Like quite a few people do nowadays. It wasn’t like she was the only one! At least, that’s what she constantly told herself to will any guilt away.

Back out in the hall; hair smoothed, cuts and bird excrement wiped as clean as it was going to get, she saw Harry getting pushed down the hall in his hospital bed. Bernard was off to the side as the Osborn boy chattered rather animatedly about something. As she got closer, she could tell that it was about that female doctor from the other day, who ticked her off!

She wondered how someone like Harry could ever prefer that _doctor_ over someone like herself. Then she smirked nastily to herself and figured someone like _Harry_ was probably perfect for that black haired physician after all… It wasn’t like Harry was good for anything besides having money and connects anyways.

And he really wasn’t any used to her now… Especially since he had that uglier looking face! UGH! That eye of his! It just made her shudder and cringe every time she looked at it! Mary Jane wondered why he hadn’t done something about that hideous eyesore.

Sure, in the beginning, she’d tried to use him to get her shiny, expensive things and throw his name around in order to get parts for plays, but then the vile brat wanted more from her than just being graced by her presence. He started attempting to be all romantic and desiring more from their relationship; wanting to kiss her even!

How dare he want a real relationship (like any regular human being with feelings) with her! Didn’t he understand his place in her eyes? Wasn’t it good enough just to be someone she could use to get her way? She gave a quiet huff; apparently not!

And as his bed drew closer, he still didn’t seem to notice her!

_‘LOOK AT ME!’_

Her mind screamed, as she practically glared at him. Despite her rather disheveled appearance, she still liked attention; even sympathy was welcomed. Playing the victim was what she did best after all. Then she forced her usual friendly smile; a façade she was always used to having wear by now.

 _‘Who said I’m not a good actress! Hah!’_ **(A/N: Lmfao everyone, you twit!)** She thought to herself arrogantly.

“Good morning Harry! What’s going on?” At this time, Harry only noticed her because Bernard had, and whispered something to the boy that made him look at her in surprise; much to her further annoyance. Apparently he’d been too dreamily absorbed in his chatter about that Dr. Aconitum to be concerned with anyone else.

That of course did nothing to improve her mood on the matter.

“Oh… Hi Mary Jane. I’m going home today! Neat, huh?” He seemed quite pleased despite his tired appearance, which of course she took no notice of.

“Yeah… Real great Harry…” Harry smiled brightly yet sleepily. It seemed he hadn‘t realized her appearance.

“Yep! Hey, how’s Pete doing?! He didn’t tell me, but I heard on the news Spider-Man actually got his webbed butt handed to him by some chick! I bet ol’ Pete’s mad about that, huh?” He snickered; as if to say “serves him right.”

Mary Jane rolled her eyes and shook her head. Though, despite his not giving her the attention she craved and thought she deserved, the redhead couldn’t help but smile some. Although on the inside it was more so, since she enjoyed seeing that whiny little nerd finally get some well deserved embarrassment!

After all the years of her getting turned into a hostage just because she was dating him or whatever it was they were doing; since he had been acting a bit oddly and somewhat distant lately (though who could blame him). You’d think he would be able to protect her better if he were _really_ a hero!

But no-oooooo! He had to go and save girls like Gwen Stacy all the time! While she had to be stuck listening to some moronic villain droning on and on about their hatred or whatever for Spider-Man, while they tried to kill her or use her in some scheme to kill Peter.

Why couldn’t they take someone else hostage for once?! Would it kill them to pick someone like Aunt May or something? It wasn’t like that nosy old bat was worth much use anyways. Just look at that crappy ring she gave to Peter for him to propose to her with!

When Peter had gone through that desperate attempt to show her the ring to make her stay after that whole incident with Harry being evil and manipulative, she couldn’t believe he thought that insignificant piece of junk would help his cause.

And when all was said and done, she went and asked Aunt May about where he’d gotten it and she told her all about it excitedly; like the pesky hag she was. Always trying to meddle in her nephew’s business. Why couldn’t she get a nice, new ring? A better one? Why’d she have to date such a broke loser?!

Why couldn’t Aunt May just go join a knitting circle or something and keep her mouth shut!

**(A/N: Just for the record… I like Aunt May, Lmfao, but since this is MJ bashing, this is what I think she’s really like and what she really thinks of others. I’ve met whores like MJ, so I know what they’re like. XD OH HOW I LOVE TO BASH AND SHOW THEIR TRUE COLORS!!! This is all from my P.O.V. from how I see her… and the point of view of most people I know XD)**

Oddly enough though, she hadn’t heard anything about Peter getting defeated by anyone. She HAD seen him lately, but she hadn’t been paying attention as he ran his mouth about whatever it was he usually went on with.

The self-obsessed woman had instead tuned him out as she looked over the newspaper for any news about new gigs or anything that was more interesting than what he had to say… Which in her opinion was everything.

“Really? I hadn’t heard about that yet.” MJ said nonchalantly; not having cared to anyways, since she figured Peter would be all whiny about it. Harry blinked in surprise; his smile faltering for a moment before it was back in place. He figured she’d have been the first to know.

“Oh? Well, I’m sure he’ll tell you when he feels like it. Heh, he’s probably peeved that he got whooped by a girl!” Harry gave another little chuckle and then broke out into a yawn.

“Excuse me Master Harry, but perhaps we should get going? We wouldn’t want to keep Dr. Aconitum waiting, would we?” Bernard said kindly; noticing (unlike MJ) that Harry was getting close to falling asleep. He didn’t want the boy to exert himself. Or for that matter, catch any kind of disease that the redhead might be carrying. At least he suspected something was amiss with her; judging by the smell and state of her. Even if Harry was too tired to either notice or realize it was her.

The young Osborn frowned sleepily again at what his butler had said.

“You’re right… We’d better hurry home! Sorry MJ, maybe we can talk again some other time? Oh, neat outfit by the way. The polka dots look weird though…” He tried to smile and be polite, but it was clear his mind was on other things and he hadn’t really looked at her. Mary Jane was pretty sure those things included a certain dark haired, pretty doctor.

She felt her eye give a slight twitch as her smile almost fell to reveal how she really felt; which was a strong mixture of hatred, jealousy and annoyance, among other hateful feelings she felt toward Harry, Pete and that stupid doctor! Or really anyone who was happy.

“Sure Harry! Well, I better be on my way too.” And with a wave, she walked away. Harry didn’t even look like he had even noticed her departure. She rolled her eyes as she headed toward the nurses station. Upon arriving there an elderly nurse came up to her from across the counter.

“Good morning and what can I do for you?” The kindly nurse asked. She had on pink scrubs with a baby duck pattern and seemed like a very nice woman; and she was, seeing as she noticed but didn‘t make any comments about how odd the redhead looked.

“I’m Mary Jane Watson and I have an appointment… But I don’t know the name of the doctor…” She admitted, having just remembered she forgot to ask earlier, when making the appointment.

In fact, she didn’t even know the doctors name from before… It had been a nurse that did all the tests and blood work because the doctor had been too busy with something else.

The nurse typed up some things on the computer.

“Ah! Here it is. Yes, you had an appointment with Dr. Aconitum, but since all her patients have been handed over to another physician for now… it seems the doctor is- oh dear… D-Dr. Tenshi!” The nurse gulped and made a strange expression; a cross between dread and pity, (something else MJ failed to notice) before she quickly moved from around the counter with a chart she picked up and gestured for the redhead to follow her.

“Please come this way Ms. Watson.” And once they entered one of the examination rooms, the nurse did the usual routine of taking her temperature, blood pressure, etc, although it did seem rather rushed. Then the nurse hastily but politely excused herself and told the redhead that the doctor would be in soon, before taking off with the chart like her shoes were on fire!

The redhead frowned in bemusement, then sighed and waited impatiently as she stared jadedly around the exam room. She wondered why her results couldn’t have been told to her over the phone. Then the door opened and in rolled a woman on one of those spinning, wheelie chairs.

Well… She didn’t really roll in right away… It took her a minute or two; the only sound was the wheel clinking against the little lip that was the door frame. Mary Jane wanted to say something out of impatience, but just then, the young woman picked up the front wheel just a little as she leaned back, and then proceeded to finally enter the room; closing the door behind her with her nose buried in a chart she’d seen the nurse with earlier.

The physician appeared to be younger than even Dr. Aconitum had looked! Except this female had short hair that looked rather spiky and wild; as if it had a mind of its own, it was dark brown to match her eyes; as far as MJ could tell.

Even though she was in a chair, she seemed to be a bit shorter and thinner than the black haired doctor; but in a frail-built sort of way… To someone like Mary Jane, she seemed very plain, weak, and boring. And she didn’t think a doctor should have hair that wasn’t properly styled!

_‘Why are there two stupid people like this working here?!’_

She was wearing a pair of grey scrubs with a black shirt underneath, with her badge hanging around her neck; securely clipped in place to her scrubs.

“Hello there Miss… Watson.” The doctor said; making a show of squinting at the chart as she pushed her large, round glasses up the bridge of her nose.

“My name is Dr. Tenshi. I’ll be your physician in place of Dr. Aconitum.” Mary Jane’s eye twitched and she felt even more irritated by the fact that this physician hadn’t even looked up from her chart that she was perusing. Couldn’t _ANYONE_ pay attention to her?!

“We have your results in, so I- aw come on!” Dr. Tenshi froze as she looked up from what she’d been reading, to finally look at Mary Jane. But this did not bode well for the redheaded attention grabber, because the expression she received wasn’t one that she liked at all…

On the contrary! The doctor, had a rather sickened and irked expression as she took an involuntary roll back; like a giant poo monster had jumped out at her and was making kissy faces!

But in the process, Dr. Tenshi ended up rolling backward too fast and the chair flipped back. She fell limply to the floor where she laid there; her body twitching oddly before springing back up on the chair; which kind of looked like someone comically rewound the whole thing.

Then, the doctor seemed to regain her composure as she shook her head and decided to go back to looking at the chart as if none of that just happened; all the while Mary Jane stared at her incredulously.

“Yes… Well.. As I was saying before my suspicions were confirmed… I have to tell you the results in person like this because of the seriousness of what was discovered.” The umber haired physician continued on in her deadpan tone.

Again, Dr. Tenshi rolled backward some more; though slowly this time, so that she was a good distance from the patient and that she didn’t flip over again. She even put on a pair of gloves rather quickly as a precautionary measure.

“What are you talking about, Doctor?” The dumb redhead asked; not seeming to understand the obviously insulting behavior and discomfort of the good doctor, and instead thinking this person was a total weirdo.

“Yeah… Well Ms. Watson, it seems that you have an STD, but-”

“I HAVE A WHAT?!”  Mary Jane blurted, aghast.

Dr. Tenshi sighed in exasperation; hating having to deal with these nasty whores day in and day out. It seemed everyone these days was catching some sort of crotch rot. You’d think they’d stop humping like horny bunnies on ecstasy, during mating season? But no-ooo!

“Er… Yes, as I was saying. It is a very serious STD, and although we have a treatment, there is no cure… Also, seeing as how severe of a case that it is, you should probably avoid having sex _ever_ again… And also we need to inform all of your sexual partners, so that they can get tested. I have informed the CDC of all of this. They should be here soon, so you’ll have to be quarantined and go through some tests that are required… Hmm, for once I’m glad I’m not the one who has to run tests…” Dr. Tenshi told the dumbstruck looking patient in her bluntly honest way; mumbling that bit at the end more to herself than anyone else.

Dr. Tenshi wasn’t really someone to be messed with; and many usually either chose not to or soon learned not to; due to an oddly intimidating air she had around her. But that was low on the list of reasons why most of the staff feared and avoided her so much.

Though they found it rather astonishing that she’d only oh so kindly took over ALL of Dr. Aconitum’s patients, and even more so that it was because they were friends (which no one understood why or HOW anyone could be friends with someone like Dr. Tenshi). Though both were known for being so young and yet so awesomely two of the top doctors in the hospital. Even if it was known she disliked these “social” parts of the job.

The dark eyed doctor heaved a sigh when the redhead continued to stare blankly at her; mouth agape. Dr. Tenshi wondered how long this would take; she had a corpse in the morgue she’d been eying for a dissection- oh erm, autopsy…  Her fingers gave an involuntary twitch. Yeah, she really wanted to do some “autopsying”... Too bad she couldn’t do a live one right now…

“Ma’am… Please keep your trap shut…” MJ did so rather hesitantly; as that stoic tone seemed a bit dark and creepy to her, before the doctor added with a matter of fact tone.

“You know… I bet you wouldn’t be in this _situation_ if you’d done that in the first place.” But Tabitha Tenshi missed the outraged and insulted glower that the redhead shot her, because she was busy jotting down something; not that she’d care or be fazed if she‘d seen it anyway. Then she looked up from her chart and asked in a polite yet mechanical sort of way.

“Any questions?”

MJ forced herself to try and stay as calm as she could from having heard some of the worst news in her life; not even her favorite store telling her that her credit card had been declined could top this… well… maybe.

“Y-yes… Why are the CDC involved, who are they and exactly what STD do I have anyway?” MJ reached up to massage her temple; feeling her headache getting worse from her brain trying to absorb all this information.

“Ah, to answer your questions in reverse order. The STD you have contracted is referred to as Huegonadai **(A/N: Sounds like “You gonna die”. Get it?! XD)**. It’s pretty rare; especially in this country. The reason for this is because it is usually contracted by a human having had sexual intercourse with a dead Javen Rhino. So yeah… You have to be unspeakably _revolting_ to have this STD. BUT hey, look on the bright side! You‘ll probably _die_ from it! So you won’t be a problem for long!” Dr. Tenshi finished rather brightly; as if this was information that was supposed to cheer her up.

“Ahhh, makes _me_ feel happier already!” The strange brunette added as she sighed cheerfully.

“Also… the CDC have to be involved so that they can quarantine you and anyone else you gave it to, so that you can’t contaminate anyone else. The CDC stands for the Center for Disease Control. I would say I’m surprised that you didn’t know that, but by the _looks_ of you and what I know… I’m very under whelmed.” Dr. Tenshi finished nonchalantly.

Noticing the horrified expression that the patient wore, she merely shrugged at the silence; not understanding why skanks like this were always so surprised that they caught something.

_‘I’ll never understand stupid people…’_

“H-how long will they keep me under quarantine?”

“Hmm, well they usually keep you until the medication kicks. Because it’s what makes it so that you won’t be able to transmit it to anyone anymore. _But,_ you will still _suffer_ from all the side-effects. OH, that reminds me… It seems that you have contracted it within the span of approximately two weeks from what I deduced after running your blood work and whatnot. So, I’ll be needing to ask you a series of questions.”

Mary Jane merely nodded; too dumbstruck to dare to comment at this point for fear the doctor would insult further or inform her of more horrifying news. She was _really_ starting to hate this hospital…

“Okay! Ms. Watson, have you engaged in sexual activities with one or more people these passed two weeks?”

“… Yes…” MJ was really hating this; frowning all miffed at the doctor.

“And with whom might that person or persons have been?” The brunette asked in a calm and polite tone, as she watched the patient with an unreadable expression.

“I… Well… Um… You see… I’m an actress and I-” Abruptly the doctor burst into a fit of derisive laughter; it sounded so cold and sharp. MJ glared and realized she was shaking slightly; but it wasn’t out of anger, it was because she was shivering. Was it her imagination or had the room _always_ been this chilly?

“Pfft-ahahahahahahah! Actress! Seriously?! Geez, it never ends! It’s either “I’m an actress!” or “I’m working my way through college!” or some nonsensical drivel like that. Why can’t you just admit you’re a money grubbing attention whore; using your so called “acting career” as a cover for your real M.O.? Along with doing the tests, I _did_ read the information in your chart Ms. Watson. You _certainly_ have a nice apartment for someone who is a singing waitress. It doesn’t take a Math genius to figure out you’d never be able to afford such a place since, it’s obvious you haven’t don’t any “acting” besides the façade that _is you_. Or have you?” Tabitha inquired with a skeptically raised brow.

There was a stunned silence in which MJ repeatedly opened and closed her mouth; making her look like a flabbergasted fish. Finally, after glowering some more at those dark, calculating eyes, she managed to grit out her reply.

“N-no…”

“Hmm, I figured. Now Ms. Watson, I _don’t_ have all day, so it would behoove you to be honest with me. I know that’s not something you’re used to, but that’s not _my_ problem.”

“F-fine! I’m trying to be an actress, but it’s been hard to find work besides the waitress gig okay?! And even then that’s only part-time! **(A/N: in this fan fiction it is.)** I barely make anything…” The redhead gave an indignant huff as she continued.

“So, in order to pay my rent and everything, I had to go back to my old ways by selling my body for money or whatever it is I needed and could get.” It was strange finally admitting it, but it didn’t seem to surprise the doctor in the least.

“Good, so again I ask, who were these people with whom you engaged in sexual activities with?”

“Well… I don’t know all of their names… It could have been anyone of them! Those sick bastards!” Though her tone was that of anger and disgust, Dr. Tenshi’s keen eyes didn’t miss the sickening smile that twitched at the corners of MJ’s lips, nor that disturbing twinkle in her green eyes.

It caused the good yet blunt doctor to move back until she was up against the wall; trying to get away from the obviously messed up individual in front of her and not caring if she noticed or not… Which she didn’t.

“Okay… Well, just write down what you know in regards to names and numbers and we’ll see what we can do.” She handed MJ a pen and paper, and the redhead wrote down the contact information rather hesitantly. Dr. Tenshi doubted it would be useful anyway, but it was better than nothing. Besides, it was the CDC’s problem now, not hers.

“Right. Now before I continue with the questions, I have to inform you of what you have to _look forward to_ in regards to the progression of this disease. Normally these will vary, but some have been known to have all of these and they aren’t really in order. You’re symptoms will be as follows: soreness and inflammation of your reproductive area; eww.” Dr. Tenshi wrinkled her nose.

“Sterility; which is good because we _don’t_ need anymore people like you. Rashes and/or scaly pus filled lesions, also severe headaches and migraines, severe sore throat, nausea, incontinence followed by explosive vomiting and diarrhea; so you know _that’ll be fun_ , especially since it’s usually _bloody_. Then you’ll have a rotting smell coming from your crotch since it will begin to slowly decompose and eventually you will have to have your reproductive organ(s) surgically removed or else you may die from it being necrotic and all that. Hmm… Let’s see, what else? Oh look! Anal seepage; but I’m pretty sure you have _that_ already… You will _violently_ flatulent, hmm I wonder how that works…? On second thought _I don’t want to know_. Wow… Hmm… I think I’m just going to give you a copy of the list because it’s about two pages long here, and I just don’t have that kind of time…”

Dr. Tenshi said all this as calmly as if they had been discussing the weather, while she flipped the page to see the next one. Meanwhile, Mary Jane seemed completely and utterly horrified.

“Well, anywho! Let’s continue on with the information gathering shall we?”

**(A/N: I figured she needed some kind of Omega-super-uber-STD to help with the comedy bashing and to get her taken away for a while by the CDC. ^_^)**

For the rest of that session Dr. Tenshi asked the routine questions and wrote down the increasingly nauseating answers. By the end of the appointment she felt like projectile vomiting all over redhead, but she feared Ms. Watson might enjoy that; judging from some bits she had mentioned she had to do to “support” herself.

So, Tabitha merely left and handed her chart over to a CDC official, who had been waiting outside the room in a hazmat suit to collect the patient. MJ seemed to feel and look pleasantly relieved from having to divulge most of her repulsing secrets; somehow thinking that none of those symptoms would happen to someone like her, just like she still thought of herself as a glorious actress.

Before they left to where they needed to take her, they allowed her the time she needed to sort out her affairs via telephone, in the back of their vehicle. Mary Jane called Peter, but only told him that she had to go away for an acting job for an unforeseeable amount of time, because something came up and she’d explain when she saw him again. Although that was a lie, because in truth she just wanted the time to come up with another lie that wouldn’t reveal the real reason why she was gone.

What surprised her the most though, was that, although Peter was shocked, whiny and sad about the whole thing and kept trying to get her to explain; he gave up unusually quicker than he normally would have, and simply told her to call him as soon as she was able to.

He hadn’t cried or anything. Not something she was used to or felt too happy about. Why hadn’t he burst into tears like he always did?! He’d always been such a crybaby when it came to her. What changed?

She wanted to call him back and make a whole big argument about it and _make_ him cry just to punish him for his behavior! But that was the last call they allowed her to make, since they’d been listening and knew she didn’t have anymore important calls to make and they had a schedule to keep. So they confiscated her phone; much to her chagrin.

It felt like hours later, as Mary Jane arrived at their secure facility, somewhere in the city; she had no idea where they were though. And the redhead was striped of her things; which were bagged and tagged for testing.

Then she was put through a series of tests; most of which were unspeakably painful and the treatment wasn’t much better, considering it was administered via a giant freaking needle, that had to be injected directly into her neck muscle for some reason. So all in all, her experience would prove to be one she wouldn’t be forgetting any time soon…

　

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooookay! So uhm... Yeah. Lmfao I hope I didn't just lose all of my precious readers/reviewers! T_T Don't hate me for my hate of the fictional character known as Mary Jane Watson!
> 
> So just to clear some stuff up... Wow my author notes are really long in this chapter for some reason. o.o;;
> 
> If any of ya'll saw the part about MJ's doctor having been too busy and were all like "THAT HAD TO HAVE BEEN ROSE SINCE SHE WAS OPERATING ON HARRY!" well you'd be right! ~Hands out slurpees to the people who got it right.~
> 
> All righty then! XD so now ya'll know how MJ has been able to afford/get all those fancy clothes, that apartment, and everything else! At least that's how I figured it. If she's gonna use men like tissues (she throws them away once she's done with them) then she'll probably hook for shiny shoe money. Lmfao. And it's plain to see she enjoys being this way even if she says otherwise (because skanks/hoochies always lie like that).
> 
> And for the record, I think Harry looks cute/attractive with or without his injured eye. XD just thought I should mention that. Anyone else thought it was cute how dreamily excited he was when thinking about Rose? And that he was so distracted he didn't even notice MJ's messed up appearance? Kuwahahahahahahah!
> 
> This chapter is mostly from MJ's point of view (P.O.V.) so that's why it reads the way it does. Also, for those who saw the name of the doctor and realized where you recognize the name, I hope it got a laugh.
> 
> Oh and what did you guys think of Dr. Tenshi? I know her last name is apart of my username, Lmfao but I felt like having some kind of "Stan Lee" moment yah know? Even if it isn't technically me, it has an obvious part of me in here.
> 
> Plus, you guys and gals will be seeing more of her! So-ooo yeah, hope she helped add some humor! XD when I made her I thought of "Dr. Stein" from "Soul Eater" if anyone was wondering why the whole "wheelie chair" scene was so familiar. Kuwahahahahah!
> 
> And don't worry, more of Rose and Dr. Tenshi's pasts, etc. will be revealed in due time. XD I bet everyone's all "O.O I wonder what this Dr. Tenshi person has to do with anything?" And the answer to that my dear readers is A LOT. She's like… the glue… THE GLUE I SAY! XD So yeah, just stick with it like ya'll have awesomely been doing and I'll be able to post when I finish writing, editing… and waiting for this site to work properly! 
> 
> Don't worry MJ will be back for more Bashing soon! And hopefully I'll be able to do more of it. If any of you guys/gals were wondering WHY all sorts of bad stuff is happening to her, well, you'll find out later, and more than likely you'll go "XD OoooooH! IT MAKES SENSE NOW!" because it's gonna be one of those kinds of things I suppose you could say. Wow... I am REALLY vague. Lmfao!


	10. A Black Cat and a White Coat Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Gwen Stacy is introduced into the story!
> 
> "A Black Cat & a White Coat" is apart of my story "Thank You For The Venom" and coincides with the storyline for the most part and answers some questions that may come up, but, I think it stands well enough on its own. It is how Gwen Stacy becomes the Black Cat! Gwen Stacy Black Cat /OC. Fem-Slash pairing/Romance. Rated "M" for "Mad Scientist"! More details inside fic. You should hopefully be able to find it on this site.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have written a story called "A Black Cat & a White Coat" and this is a piece of that story, just so you know that it is out there. 
> 
> Tabitha Tenshi's parts are important because they help explain more about Rose's past and the type of people she's associated with, etc.

For now, let's leave the symbiote to play while we rewind all-lllll the way back to when a certain young blonde woman was hanging out of a window, clinging to whatever she could get a grip on while screaming at the thought of her impending doom! That's right! The moment when Gwen Stacy was hanging on for dear life!

Oh what thoughts flew through the pretty little things mind as the crane caused her to lose her grip and she fell down, down, down…! She thought of how she had always grown up trying to be such a good girl, and get good grades, and not do anything that might tarnish her father's or family's reputation. And yet somehow, for years, she always ended up getting bullied for being smart and pretty; especially and mainly in school. Like it was wrong to be the way she was or something.

The messed up part is she lacked self-confidence and didn't really think she was very intelligent or attractive. In fact, it was the photographer's insistence that she be in the photo shoot that was the reason she'd taken it. It was nice to finally get some compliments from someone who made a career out of picking and taking pictures of beautiful people; whether it was lies or not. And after all sorts of crummy things that she had to endure all these years, it would end with her as a smear on the pavement! And here she'd made the mistake of thinking today that things were starting to look up!

To make matters worse, she doubted anyone else would care. Besides her family, who actually cared what happened to her? She doubted that Eddie guy; who had taken to stalking her did… He was just plain creepy! She'd found out he'd been going around telling everyone he was her boyfriend, among other things to her disgust. All he was after was her body, just like all those other sleazy jerks! But then, a blur of red pulled her from her lame life flashing depressingly before her grey eyes!

There it was again! What was that? Suddenly it came into view and just as it grabbed her, did she realize that it was Spider-Man! Personally, she was always thought he was nice. Who else was going around and saving people and being so heroic? Even her father thought he was helpful to the city; but he would usually go on a rant about how vigilante justice was wrong and against the law shortly afterward. So, she was more than glad he was saving her. She'd always tried to see the good in people, not that it often turned out well for her… A prime example of that was Eddie Brock.

And for some odd reason, as Spider-Man pulled her safely from the clutches of doom, the image of Peter Parker flashed across her mind! Yes, Parker… He was a little odd, but he was sweet and meant well, and he was an outcast like her in some ways. Maybe this was life's way of telling her that they could be friends and not just friendly, sometimes slightly awkward classmates?

Even though they had a class together and were on somewhat affable terms, Gwen usually tried to keep to herself; the poor girl had so much trouble making friends ever since she could remember… But despite it all, she tried to keep a positive attitude and hoped for the best. She was just waiting for someone who wasn't such an obvious fake or user, to be friends with and finally be able to put her trust in. Perhaps, Peter Parker was that someone she could trust?

It took her a few moments to realize that her and Spider-Man were safely on the ground now. Gwen was overcome by the sudden urge to hug and profusely thank the hero! But instead she found all she could do was beam and give a small, breathless "Thank you!" when he asked if she was okay, though to her it just didn't seem like enough for having her life saved. She wondered if maybe things really were looking up after all? But Eddie interrupted them; taking pictures and such.

And at that moment she saw her father and ran to him; giving him a hug as she was so happy that he was here, even if it wasn't because she was in danger, but because he'd been called out due to the situation. Gwen started to cry a little from a mixture of relief and sadness as she wondered if he'd have come at all if he knew it was her… With her father's soothing words she did her best to calm down and told herself that he probably would've to make sure the body was hers.

But then she pulled away and turned just in time to see Spider-Man web slinging away. As she watched, the sweet blonde frowned; feeling pretty bad that she couldn't thank Spider-Man properly at the moment. However, she'd been raised to always be a good girl and go along with whatever her father said and that he was right; especially in matters involving law enforcement. So she'd try to make it up to Spider-Man later if she could.

With a sigh and quite a lot of confused and stressed out emotions; she was ushered over to the vehicle her father had arrived in, as he fretfully kept asking if she was all right. Then once most of the concern had worn off, he went into a whole thing about interrogating her about why she'd been up there doing a photo shoot in the first place, who the heck this Eddie Brock was, why he hadn't been told who she was dating, and blah, blah, blah.

Needless to say Gwen had a headache and was getting fed up with it all much quicker from all the emotional stress and whole near death thing, than she normally would have. She reached up and covered her face with her hands; gently massaging her temples. George Stacy paused when he saw his daughter doing this and his frown only deepened. "Are you feeling well honey? Maybe you should go to the hospital and get checked out… Just in case?" She sighed and forced a smile, but it wasn't fooling anyone. "I'm fine dad… I think I'll just go home."

"Oh no you don't young lady! You're going to the hospital. I don't want to come home later and find you unconscious on the floor or worse!" And even though she tried to argue, she ended up being pushed into the vehicle and taken to the hospital regardless. _'UGH! I hate it when he does this! He always has to be right! Why can't it ever be MY choice?'_ She buried her face in her hands again and tried to calm herself down. It wouldn't do to make her father look bad in front of the driver by having a temper tantrum. He'd just lecture her some more.

He'd always been like this, ever since that one time she'd been attacked when she was in middle school, he'd become so freakishly overprotective and stern, but at the same time he always seemed to busy for her. **(A/N: I have no idea what Gwen's back-story is, so I'm making up my own and, but I do know her parents are alive since she has dinner with them in the movie.)** The blonde supposed she couldn't blame him for being so worried about losing her though, especially in his line of work and everything else; he'd probably seen enough death and loss… But still, it'd be nice if he just accepted her as she was and not treated her like the most fragile of glass dolls in all of existence. The man was so frightened that she might get hurt that he wouldn't even let her go to self-defense classes or anything! Which to her didn't make any sense…

Gwen figured being able to at least know _some_ defensive techniques would have come in very handy at any age. Heck, she remembered once when she'd been in middle school when it would have come in handy! She'd been waiting outside because her dad was supposed to pick her up to go out to eat. They were celebrating her winning the science fair.

She smiled fondly at the memory, but it became a frown as she recalled the rest. He was late, as usual, and a man had come up to her; she thought maybe he worked at the school or was someone's parent. He seemed pretty nice and struck up a conversation with her; letting her do most of the talking, which was a rarity for her. And at the time she had thought it was a nice change of pace since no one ever seemed to want to hear what she had to say. When she mentioned something about her science fair project, he told her that he was something of an inventor himself, and that he had the designs over in his car if she wanted to take a look. It was at that moment that things clicked and she realized the horror of her mistake in being so damn nice.

Gwen had politely declined, but he kept insisting. She told him her dad was a cop and he was on his way to pick her up. However, this didn't have the reaction she was looking for. Instead of getting scared and backing off, the guy got this sick looking grin on his face like he didn't believe her and started trying to grab her and drag her off. Being so terrified, she wasn't able to react in time and he ended up grabbing her forearm, but then she started trying to get away. The fabric of her sleeve tore and he cussed loudly before trying again! She took off running, trying to get back into the school or to someone who might help her!

The next thing she knew she was tackled to the harsh pavement, and was screaming as he tried to restrain her. She fought tooth and nail, that is, until he gave her a rough slap across the face. She tried to stop the silent tears from streaming down her face, but it was to no avail either. It was then that she heard it… Someone was yelling her name like they were looking for her. She began yelling "I'M HERE DAD! HELP!" and then as the stunned pedophile turned his head in the direction of the other person, she took that opportune moment to use all the strength her little body could muster and kicked him right in the balls! He fell over with a strangled groan and she got away and ran as fast as she could to her father, who _finally_ showed up!

The disgusting child rapist received a good beating from her father before he called it in and the man was taken away. It turned out he had other charges and violations on his record that he'd been on the run from, so thankfully he went away for a long time. And although Gwen was both proud that her father had beaten the guy up against his better morals, and rescued her, she couldn't help feeling a little disappointed and angry that he wouldn't allow her to learn martial arts or anything that could help her defend herself against a future attacker. The blonde didn't even get to voice her opinion on the matter, as he simply told her it was settled and had one of the other officers drive her home so he could personally take the scumbag into custody, rather than spend time with her like he'd promised...

"Ms. Stacy, we're here. Do you want me to wait here for you ma'am?" The female officer who'd been driving asked her politely. Gwen managed a small smile; the driver's voice bringing her out of her irked nostalgia. "No, that's okay. I can find my way home. But thank you." With that she exited the vehicle and headed into the building; not wanting to really deal with anyone at the moment, she just wanted to get this over and done with. The genial yet frustrated young woman approached the nurses station where a nurse looked up and smiled. "Do you need help with something miss?" Gwen nodded. "Yes, my name is Gwen Stacy and I'm-"

"Oh! You're Captain Stacy's daughter aren't you?" The nurse cut in with a worried expression. "Y-yes, but how did you know that?" The blonde blinked in surprise. "Your father called us earlier sweetie! He told us all about what happened and so we made you an emergency appointment per his request." The nurse whose name tag read "Roberta Roberts" began typing up something on the computer. _'Figures Dad would make a big fuss… I'm not even hurt!'_ She thought in agitation as Roberta picked up a chart and motioned for her to follow. _'At least it shows he does care I suppose…'_ They went to an exam room where the nurse began to go about the usual routine.

Gwen however, noticed that despite this being an emergency appointment, the nurse seemed very nervous and seemed to be trying to hurry up so she could leave or something. "Is something wrong nurse Roberts?" The nurse's head snapped up from the chart she'd been filling out, but she quickly averted her eyes. "O-oh, no Ms. Stacy… I-it's just I have a lot of w-work today!" It was an obvious lie, but Gwen merely frowned and stayed quiet; wondering what was going on.

Then with a hasty "The Doctor will be here shortly." the nurse vanished out the door. Gwen sighed and shook her head; no matter how she tried to see the good in people, they could just be plain strange sometimes. An odd noise reached her ears and she glanced around; wondering where it was coming from. It was faint and seemed to be coming from outside the room... Then the door opened with a soft click, but as the door swung forward; she saw that there wasn't anyone there. "H-hello?" She asked hesitantly, but then her eyes went wide as a blur of white and grey came hurtling toward the door! As soon as it reached the entrance way though it seemed to trip and tumble into the room; the force of it all causing the door to slowly close behind… whatever it was…

"Meh… Stupid floor… Why can't you be smooth?" The wiry figure now lying face up on the floor, exclaimed in an aggravated yet deadpanned sort of voice. Gwen stared down at the person and blinked. It was a woman in grey scrubs and a white doctor's lab coat. It seemed she was clutching onto the back of one of those chairs with wheels on it and was currently in the process of getting up, patting herself off and sitting back onto it as she flipped it upright. _'That must be what she rode in one…'_ Gwen couldn't help but smile at the comical situation. She'd never seen someone make an entrance like that before!

The woman in question looked to be around her age, if not a little younger due to being at least an inch or two shorter than Gwen. And her hair was of a rich shade of umber; it fell in wavy curls to her shoulders so that it was just long enough to be tied back, but had a rather spiky and untamed style to it. The young woman was busying herself reading over the chart that the nurse had left in a nook on the door.

The scrubs she wore looked baggy but comfortable and contrasted well with her pale complexion. Gwen continued to observed the doctor; wondering why she looked so interesting to her… There was something about this person that the blonde simply couldn't put her finger on. The physician looked up from the chart. "Okay, so Miss…" She went to glance back down at the chart; either not having bothered to look at the name or forgetting it all ready. "Stacy. Gwen Stacy." The blonde informed her with a smile and found it returned by a small one from the other. For some reason that brightened her mood a little; in her opinion the doctor didn't seem like someone who smiled very often, at least probably not with a patient.

"Gwen, huh? It suits you." The doctor said in the same stoic tone; but that small smile stayed in place, as if just the slightest bit amused by something, though what Gwen hadn't the faintest idea. She glanced back down at the chart and began speaking before the patient had a chance to ask what she meant. "It seems your father thinks you need a check-up. Do you?" Gwen was caught off guard; she hadn't been expected to have her opinion asked. "I… Well, no. I don't think there's anything wrong. I mean, yeah I _did_ fall and almost die, but Spider-Man saved me! I don't get why I have to be here." The blonde crossed her arms as she gave an indignant little huff.

"You _have_ to be here? Some _one_ is _forcing_ you? How _so_ Ms. Stacy?" The doctor asked; seeming mildly interested.

Gwen couldn't suppress the warmth that spread across her face at the way the doctor phrased her words; it was such an odd way of speaking to her…

"Oh… Well… You see…" She wasn't sure how to answer, and ended up unconsciously pouting in frustration as she tried to think of an answer that wouldn't cause her to end up ranting about everything and sounding pathetic and whiny. So, she opted for a simple "I-It's just easier if I get this over with…"

"Heh, still… Seems you aren't too _happy_ about being here."

"Of course not! What if someone who was really sick or dying needed this emergency appointment and couldn't get it because I'm here, huh? What about the people there who actually got hurt? What about them?" Gwen couldn't help herself, she was starting to feel the emotions she'd been trying so hard to bottle up, welling to the surface. But the doctor didn't seem to mind and instead listened stoically. "What _about_ them?" At this Gwen blinked. "H-huh?"

"What _about them_?" The doctor repeated, just as coolly; though putting more emphasis on the last two words. " _They_ should be taken care of by now." The woman held up a finger when she saw Gwen open her mouth to argue or question. "I _know_ this because people were sent out long before you arrived Ms. Stacy. What's _done_ is done and everything following shall do so accordingly, so it's pointless to be upset about things _you_ cannot _change_. Instead you should work on the things you _can_ do something about." Gwen frowned thoughtfully and uncrossed her arms as her anger died down. What she'd been told was a pretty valid point. The only thing she could do anything about was the "right now" and not the "then".

Curious grey eyes stared at the other woman. "What's your name?" The doctor gazed right back with mild interest. "Dr. Tenshi. I'd say I'm surprised the nurse didn't tell you, but that would require me to give a damn." Dr. Tenshi stated as she stood up from her chair; placing the chart on the counter and casually approaching Gwen. "Why is that? I don't understand why she behaved so strangely about this whole thing."

"Hmm… Good question." Dr. Tenshi mused, pausing as she looked at Gwen; examining her expression. "You see, I'm not what people consider… "Normal" so almost everyone here avoids me like the plague unless they absolutely need something from me." Gwen's eyes widened in a mix of horror and empathy. "That's horrible! You seem fine to me! I don't understand why they'd act that way!" It was the physician's turn to look surprised, but it was a pleasant kind that made her smile softly. _'A very nice girl indeed…'_ She mused before turning her attention back to the conversation. "I appreciate your words, but you needn't be so distraught by it. They are entitled to their opinions, and besides, I like not being distracted from my work."

"But how can you just be so aloof about the whole thing? Doesn't their view of you bother you any?" The blonde asked; still outraged at how anyone could be so cruel, much less a whole hospital of people! Dr. Tenshi gave a soft and amused chuckle. "It's quite all right, Ms. Stacy. As I said earlier, that would require me to _care_ , and frankly I have more important priorities than worrying about what a bunch of worthless meat sacks think of me. Wouldn't you agree?" The lovely patient stared in utter bemusement before she slowly nodded; looking thoughtful again. "I guess so…" Again she heard the doctor chortle in amusement.

"It'll be all right Ms. Stacy. Now! Let's get on with this exam, shall we? I'm sure you have places you'd rather to be than cooped up in here carrying on with someone like me." Dr. Tenshi stated politely with a small smile to match; snapping on a pair of purple rubber gloves that she'd taken from the box on the counter. When Gwen went to open her mouth to argue to the contrary , the doctor swiftly slipped a tongue depressor passed those red glossy lips. "Say "ahhh"!" And as Gwen shot her a glare, the physician merely smiled politely back; as if she were innocently oblivious as to the sneaky maneuver she'd accomplished. "Ahhh!" The blonde said obligingly; seeing as there wasn't much else to be done without seeming rude and upsetting her father, who would probably hear about it and bitch her out yet again.

The doctor went about examining Gwen's mouth, eyes, ears, and all that and a few other things; all the while taking short intervals to jot information down, and she'd even given Gwen some aspirin to get rid of her headache when Gwen informed her she had one. The blonde couldn't understand why, but her overall mood had improved from what it had been earlier, and she was feeling rather mellow; especially with her headache fading.

After all this, she replaced the gloves with another pair and looked to her patient. "Well, so far so good. Now, please lift your shirt." The dark haired doctor began removing the stethoscope from around her neck and putting the ear pieces into her ears. The blonde suddenly felt rather bashful and felt her face warm as a blush spread across it. "D-do I have to?" Dr. Tenshi raised a curious brow. "If you want me to be able to hear what's going on inside your torso, yes."

Oddly enough, unlike someone like Rose who was very good at being empathic and all that good stuff, Dr. Tenshi was… Well, not so much... No, her expertise lay in skills that involved things like Science and the more mechanical aspects of medicine. The "social" junk just wasn't her forte. It wasn't that she couldn't be if she wanted to, it's simply that she didn't care to have anything to do with it if she could help it…

But back to her current issue. The patient didn't seem to want to cooperate though and so she couldn't understand why. Didn't she want to get this exam over with? Hmm, she'd have to test out one of the tips Rose had given her over the years regarding dealing with other people, and _try_ to understand why the patient was being uncooperative over such a silly thing.

"Does having to lift your shirt upset you somehow?" The umber haired female inquired inquisitively. Gwen blushed some more, causing the doctor who stared intently at her to tilt her head to the side slightly; which only made the girl turn a darker shade at such an intense gaze. "I-it's not that it upsets me… It's just… Just…" She trailed off; averting her eyes.

In all honesty she really didn't know why it bothered her. With any doctors appointments before, this sort of thing was routine and she did it almost mechanically, without any worry or thinking. But now for some reason, the lass felt peculiar about lifting up her shirt in front of Dr. Tenshi. "Just… _what_?" The shorter woman frowned even more in thought; trying to figure out what was making her patient act so funny. Then, something seemed to click in the odd doctor's head.

"Oh! Are you embarrassed perchance?" Dr. Tenshi noticed how red the other's face was becoming, and when she received confirmation with a nod and darker blushing, she gave a small "Hmm…" before picking up the end of her stethoscope and handing it to Gwen. "I only need to listen. You can stick this underneath of your blouse where I tell you to. Better?" The blonde's eyes widened in surprise and then she smiled in relief and nodded vigorously.

Normally, Dr. Tenshi would've been her usual brutally blunt self and probably said something that ended up upsetting the patient but made him or her compliant, and she'd have gotten on with the exam, but this patient was very _nice_ and she wasn't quite sure why yet, but she found she was in a pretty decent mood; like something had calmed her usual cynical self. So with that, she would try to be nice and let it slide; for all she knew Ms. Stacy probably had her reasons.

Gwen gratefully took a hold of the stethoscope and when Dr. Tenshi pointed to where she wanted it placed, she was greatly surprised when the doctor averted her eyes as she slid it under her blouse. It caused feelings of happiness to bubble up and she smiled brightly. She felt so grateful to finally have such a considerate doctor, or really a considerate anyone! They continued this until Dr. Tenshi was satisfied and waited for her piece of equipment to be handed back. Gwen handed it back. "Thanks… I'm sorry I was so silly about it… I don't know what came over me." She laughed nervously as she rubbed the back of her head.

Dr. Tenshi just gave her a small, kind smile. "No need to fret. It is all over now. If you don't mind though I would like to take some blood samples." Although the odd doctor didn't think she was very good at being empathetic, she was decent at gauging others. To her, Gwen Stacy seemed to be a very nice, caring young woman; albeit very shy and submissive to an extent that, she was incredibly sure that the girl didn't have much control over her own life. It was an evident fact due to the appointment having been made by the patient's father, and also her lack of enthusiasm for being here; among other factors she didn't feel like getting into at the moment.

"Blood samples?" The blonde raised a curious brow; her blush subsiding as she wondered why blood had to be given. "Yes, I'd rather like to be thorough so your father won't bother me later. I hope you don't mind?" Dr. Tenshi was really beginning to wonder why she was being so _freaking_ nice!

Sure, Ms. Stacy was a rather amusing patient and she was oddly kind and didn't seem to become all frightened and intimidated like most people did when ever she got within their line of sight, but this was just strange! With a mental shake, she decided it was just the good mood the patient had put her in. Although how she could be made so calm and cheerful by anyone else besides Rose, was beyond her comprehension. Perhaps she would ask her friend about it later?

Gwen blushed again; but it wasn't as bad as before, just a pink tinge. Dr. Tenshi found it oddly entertaining and set about collecting blood samples. When they were done with that and a few other minor tests, Dr. Tenshi sat back down in her wheelie chair to write on the chart some more.

There was so much silence between them throughout this whole appointment and yet, both were surprised to find that it wasn't an awkward kind. The blonde felt like she should say something though… She had a feeling this physician was being kinder to her than was normal. "Dr. Tenshi I-" The doctor in question glanced up at her and she froze; almost forgetting what she wanted to say.

Though her expression was back to being impassive, it was easy to tell that Gwen had her undivided attention. The taller of the two wasn't used to that sort of thing _at all_. Her face flushed again when she saw the doctor's eyebrow raise expectantly. "I wanted… To say thank you for… For being so patient and nice to me. I know you didn't have to be. But, just know… It was greatly appreciated." Those dark, umber eyes widened. _'Huh… She really means it…'_ Dr. Tenshi thought stunned. She cleared her throat and looked back down at the chart; hiding behind her bangs.

"You are most welcome Ms. Stacy. Now, if you like, the tests are over, you may take this to the nurse's station." She said sincerely before her tone reverted back; tearing off a sheet of paper she'd filled out and handing it to Gwen swiftly. "And she'll assist you from there." Dr. Tenshi opened the door and tried to roll out, but the chair caught on the lip again and she continued to vainly bump into it. Gwen couldn't stifle her giggling as she stood up from the exam table (or bed, whatever) to stand beside the doctor; who was busy trying to conquer the crafty door lip (trimming, frame, call it what you want XD).

"Try this." Gwen offered sweetly as her mirth subsided. Since the physician was sitting with her chest to the back of the chair; the blonde placed a hand lightly on Dr. Tenshi's shoulder and one on the back of the chair and helped her lean back ever so slightly then pushed her forward.

Dr. Tenshi tensed at the sudden contact since she wasn't comfortable being touched, but her curiosity overrode her usual reaction to whip out a scalpel and start dissecting whoever was touching her without permission. And when she realized what the lass was trying to do, she shifted her weight and helped the process go more smoothly.

And just like that Dr. Tenshi conquered the devious door trim! She blinked in surprise. _'Why hadn't I thought of that? It's so simple!'_ Gwen started giggling again at the slightly dumbfounded expression on Dr. Tenshi's face. But both of them looked up when they heard someone clapping. "Boffo little Boffin! Boffo! You've finally beaten it have you?" Congratulated a taller, black haired woman who wasn't many years older than Dr. Tenshi. She wore a playfully amused expression despite her obvious tiredness; judging by the faint shadows that had formed under her eyes.

Said "Boffin's" eye twitched dangerously as she suddenly had a scalpel out and ready; but where it came from, Gwen had no idea. "Mock me not, you overgrown _weed_! Lest I do some _pruning_!" Giving the silver blade a skillful little flourish for emphasis. Gwen's eyes went wide as she looked from one to the other in confusion.

' _Are they rival doctors? Hm, maybe mortal enemies?'_ The blonde wondered as she heard the black haired doctor laughing again; it sounded playful and innocent but there was a hint of something the blonde couldn't place that made her wary. Gwen began to rub her arms as it began to get cold and she began to shiver. Had it always been this cold out here? She didn't remember it being like this earlier…

"Oh don't be so _cold_!" She chortled again; though Gwen didn't understand what was so funny. "You're going to give that poor girl the wrong impression if you keep up this silliness." And with that said, Dr. Tenshi scowled and begrudgingly in an instant the scalpel was gone from sight as quick as it had come. The blonde blinked; wondering where she kept it to begin with! "Very well… But you didn't have to be so mean in your teasing, Dr. Aconitum!" The shorter physician said as she hugged the back of the chair that pressed against her chest.

"Heh, my apologies Dr. Tenshi. But you shouldn't give me such opportunities!" Dr Aconitum quipped. The blonde suddenly realized that the room wasn't cold anymore; at least, not as much as it had been! "Now, young lady, shouldn't you be handing in that form?" Rose pointed out politely.

Gwen gave a small nod and then looked back to Dr. Tenshi with a slightly concerned and bemused expression. "It's okay Ms. Stacy. We're friends. Our _games_ are just a little stranger than most." The umber haired doctor assured with a small, playful smile of her own as she looked back to her fellow doctor.

Gwen nodded; managing a small smile. "All right… Bye then." Dr. Tenshi gave her a simple nod rather than saying anymore. "Have a nice day." Dr. Aconitum bid courteously as the girl hurried to the nurses station. The blonde wasn't quite sure what just happened or why; in fact, there were a great many issues plaguing her today, but she figured going home and getting some sleep would make her feel better and help her sort them out. Besides, tomorrow was another day! But for one Dr. Tenshi, things were just starting to get interesting…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As ya'll can see, although Gwen really is brilliant and beautiful, she doesn't see it herself and thinks quite the opposite really. She lacks self-confidence, but DOES try to find a way to gain it and feel better about herself. She's really lonely at heart, but she doesn't want to be with any of those pervy guys out there who are only after one thing; at least from her experience. She's pretty complex and yet simple enough to grasp I hope. I love complicated characters. Having ones that are so two dimensional is pretty boring depending on the situation. So, yeah, basically this is how a rather fragile Gwen finds her strength and all that good stuff! XD
> 
> I like having characters with which to develop, so everyone's gonna have some developing to do. ^_^ YAY!
> 
> Hopefully Gwen will be able to find someone (NOT PETER PARKER) who will understand her and whom she can understand/have things in common with and help bring her out of her shell. Plus with becoming the Black Cat, that'll help boost her ego/confidence and speed up that process. I think her being around good influences like Rose and Dr. Tenshi is what she needs.
> 
> Also to clear up something, the word "Boffin" means "scientific expert: a scientific expert, especially one involved in research, who is regarded as being unconventional or absent-minded." I bing'd it and then looked it up in my dictionary for good measure. This is the definition I choose to use and stick with so there yah have it. I think it describes Dr. Tenshi comically well considering that she certainly IS unconventional. Oh and the meaning for the name "Gwen" is "Fair" I looked up the meaning/origin of the name and so I picked the one I liked that I thought best suited her since by "Fair" I mean "pretty" and "reasonable/open minded" yah know, that sorta thing! XD And "Boffo" is the same as "Bravo" except it's more fun to say.
> 
> Yes, Dr. Tenshi is rather… well… Lmfao strange, but I like her and I think she has some character development of her own to do so that should be fun! She's like a cute little robot with homicidal tendencies! XD


	11. A Black Cat and a White Coat Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rose and Tabitha converse and Tabitha becomes nostalgic...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys and gals finally get some real insight into Rose's past and also you get to learn more about my adorably homicidal new OC Dr. Tenshi!

Both friends decided to take a break and go get something to eat that wasn't from the cafeteria; not that the food was bad, it's just they liked to get out of the hospital once in a while. The Kane Hospital was rather well renowned and had the best of everything when it came to doctors, equipment, and things like that. Dr. Tenshi and Dr. Aconitum were two of the top doctors and had been close friends since they were children.

As a matter of fact, if it weren't for Rose, she doubted she'd be alive today; much less a skilled doctor, among other of her talents. But she digressed… They chose a pleasantly quiet place with hardly anyone in it, at which to dine in. They took their seats in a booth away from everyone and placed their orders; Dr. Tenshi ordered a tasty looking dessert and Rose of course ordered something that was all you can eat. The younger of the two shook her head, wondering how she could eat so much; though all the while knowing exactly _why._

They knew they were mutants; they grew up together, so it was hard not to know. Especially considering the conditions under which they had met. As they waited for their food, the umber haired one fiddled with her spoon; pensively trying to sort out her thoughts.

"Don't tell me you're still upset about my teasing?" Rose asked with a raised eyebrow, though she was smiling with mild amusement. "Hmm? Oh, no… I understand you were just being _you_ again." Her tone was distant and aloof; her mind being obviously on something she found bothersome.

For a moment Rose watched her with calculating pale, silvery grey eyes. Then they widened a bit in realization. "O-ooh! I get it! Its that girl _isn't it_?" Her voice was filled with interest and giddiness as she leaned forward in her seat. And Rose being Rose, she certainly didn't miss the faint blush her friend was trying to hide as the younger one glowered at her begrudgingly. "S-so what if it is?"

"Has the little Boffin finally taken an interest in another kind of _anatomy_? Hmm?" She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively

"What?! No! It's not what you're thinking, you weirdo! She… _Bothered_ me is all…" At this Rose tilted her head slightly to the side. "Bothered you? How so?"

Dr. Tenshi shifted uncomfortably in her seat; directing her glare to her spoon. "I… I don't know… She just _does_!"

"Ms. Stacy seemed pretty nice to me." Rose stated thoughtfully.

"I'm not saying she isn't! That's just it! Something about her in general makes me… Makes me… Not myself! I don't like it!" The childish of the two crossed her arms and huffed at her spoon; like it was the cause of all her problems.

"Tabitha… I _think_ you are getting upset for nothing. Just because you're a genius, doesn't mean you should feel obligated to know and understand every single little thing. Especially, what you're not interested in." But Tabitha flashed her a look as she was about to object, before the other added. "That being emotions and social interactions of course." Rose told her in that familiar genial tone.

Tabitha Tenshi sighed deeply; calming herself from having gotten all worked up again over nothing. Rose was right… But then again her role model always knew how to talk to her. Such things as "feelings" were always something that irked her. She didn't understand them and she didn't want to. They were unnecessary… Right?

Her one and only true friend was the woman sitting across from her and that was it! She didn't feel anything unsettling or anything around Rose like she had Ms. Stacy. Things were always understood in a comfortable and unspoken way.

Tabitha could be herself; cold, calculating, and apart from the few emotions like frustration or hatred that bubbled up from time to time, like today, she normally felt blissfully numb or mildly irked or some other minor thing like fascination or interest, but that was only when it came to her passion for Science. Not this… _Weirdness_ that bothered her now…

The shorter one was pulled from her thoughts when she heard a soft noise coming from across the table. She looked up just in time to see Rose lightly and bemusedly sniffing the air; leaning steadily over the table toward her.

The black haired physician frowned in confusion as she regarded her friend who was nervously twiddling the spoon between her fingers. "Blood." Was what Rose stated in a low, dark tone that only Tabitha could hear.

"W-what?" Her eyes widened a bit, acting as if she hadn't heard her.

"I know you have some… Where is it and why do you have it?"

"I don't know what you're blathering on about. Maybe it's coming from the kitch-" But she stopped as the other woman narrowed her eyes dangerously.

"If you don't answer me, I'm going to take it away and destroy it."

One of Tabitha's skillful, pale hands shot automatically into her pocket like she'd just been burnt as she held protectively onto whatever was in it; the expression on her face like that of a small child who'd been caught with a stray kitten in her backpack. "No! I _need_ it!" Her tone; just as quiet, but urgent and matching the look on her face. "Tabi, you better-"

"Okay! Okay! Just stop threatening! Sheesh!" She said; her hand slowly retracting from her pocket and pulling out a small black box. The smaller female gave a quick look around before opening the box just enough for Rose to see what was inside.

Her eyes widened as she saw small vials of dark red, and then she shook her head and sighed disapprovingly. "You're taking patient blood again? What have I told you about that? Do you _want_ to get into trouble?" But she raised a brow when she saw the other frantically shaking her head side to side; shoving the box securely back into her pocket.

"No, no! You don't get it! No one is going to miss _this_! I took enough for my experiments _and_ for the hospital to do their little tests!" She was smirking now, in a deviously triumphant way that made Rose facepalm; she had a feeling she already knew the answer. "Okay… I give. Whose blood is it?" Tabitha shifted a little again in her seat; still smirking, but it was a tad sheepish. "Ms. Stacy's…"

"Wait… what? Why?" Rose was starting to feel giddy again. She couldn't help it. It seemed after all these years; the emotionally stunted little boffin was beginning to develop feelings for someone! She wasn't sure what kind of feelings, but Rose knew they were the positive kind.

It must be why she'd been so easily aggravated and whatnot today! Under that cold, calculating, mentally damaged exterior was a shy, stubborn, young girl who never really had the chance to be a kid or be loved. It was partly the reason she could be so childish and behave so oddly. Rose hoped someday her young friend would find someone who could love her for who she is and help bring out the good in her she tried so hard to keep hidden.

"Well… I'm working on something… And when I saw her, I _knew_ she was the _perfect_ candidate for it! And when I get the chance to run some tests of my own, I'll know whether or not I'm right. Which, I am quite certain that I am." She stated confidently, seeming to calm back down to how she normally was; but that faint pink tinge on her cheeks still gave her away and Rose just smiled.

"I see… Please keep me updated won't you?" Tabitha gave a nod as the waitress approached with their food. And for the rest of their lunch break they spoke about the usual things; one being what this new experiment that Tabitha was working on currently, and then they went back to work.

Tabitha felt a lot better about things as she headed home later that evening. When she got home, she cleaned up and headed to her lab to get started! Thankfully, she was able to keep the blood at a stable temperature in her pocket all day with the help of her powers. After a few hours of running some tests, she had some time before a few of them would be ready.

She set an egg timer as she leaned back in her chair; hands folded behind her head as she twirled a pumpkin flavored pockey stick in her mouth with her tongue. For some reason she wasn't quite sure of, it might just be from everything that happened today, but her mind wandered back to when she was little…

Before she was known as Tabitha, she didn't even have a name. An odd thing, but then again she _was_ an orphan, so it wasn't that farfetched. She'd been dumped off on the orphanage's doorstep with no note, no name, nothing.

Just a tattered old blanket or something; she didn't know since the people who ran the place said that since that's usually how kids ended up there, that they didn't bother to remember. But despite her circumstances, she did her best to be a good, well behaved child; kind but very shy and she loved animals and learning very much. She'd always had a strange fascination with how things worked and the like.

But of course, the other children had taken to picking on her and every now and then beating her up and calling her cruel names that she didn't care to remember. You see; most of them had names, and they thought she was a creepy little nerd for not caring that she was nameless and so content with just studying and waiting to be adopted.

Whether said through tears or a smile, she always told them the same thing. "You'll see. Someday, someone's gonna adopt me and give me a name! And I'm going to become a famous Scientist!" Which, usually proceeded with her ending up getting beaten some more and then, ironically she was the one who got punished for "getting into fights", with them lecturing her about not causing trouble and cruel things like maybe she should try to be more _"normal"_ like the other children.

Year after year passed, and still no one wanted her. No matter how hard she tried to be presentable in every way, or how smart she was for her age, they always wanted one of the other kids. And with every year that passed, she became steadily more and more reserved; wondering what was wrong with her and why no one seemed to want her...

It wasn't like she ever really spoken or had anything to do with the other children there anyway since they were so rude, but she stopped smiling and being genial and that sweet, shy, optimistic little girl she had once been.

Instead, she grew silent as the grave, impassive, was prone to disappearing for hours at a time. Her hair and eyes took on a more feral, disturbed look; especially when she took to cutting the umber locks herself. For some reason, if one was within a certain radius of her, an icy sense of dread crept over them and they'd find themselves shivering or with fogged up glasses, and eerie occurrences such as this.

Her complexion paled to match her seemingly icy disposition, and she always came back from where ever it was that she disappeared to; covered in dirt or soot, or had a few scorch marks on her clothes, or something like that. All in all almost everyone there had taken to avoiding her and anyone who'd been curious to try and find out the reasons for these things ended up just deciding it was better left alone.

There was however, one stupid enough not to leave her be. It was a boy who was around eleven years old and had always bullied her. He was twice her size and a very ugly little brute. When she started disappearing for hours at a time within the past few months, he started getting curious and wondering if perhaps she had something she was hiding; something he might want.

So one day, he made the decision to follow to see where it was that she snuck off to. He ended up losing her, but he got better as the days passed. And finally, he managed to stalk her to an old, abandoned vehicle repair shop. The windows and doors were boarded up and everything, but she had a secret entryway that consisted of a hole behind a couple of trashcans in the alley.

He couldn't follow her in, but he did wait until she left, to sneak inside and have a look around. To his astonishment, it looked like something out of a low budget mad Scientist's lab from a movie! Rusty, dusty old parts, that were obviously from around the shop or from junkyards, or whatever, made up the contraptions which were in there.

There was a large pile of books on an old desk in the corner, also there were some couch cushions on the floor in one corner; and what he realized was a small litter box with newspaper in it and a ball of old looking yarn near it. The boy almost jumped out of his skin when something brushed up against his leg!

When he looked down, he saw it was a sleek, black kitten with bandages wrapped around one of her front legs. It was a kitten she'd been taking care of for a few weeks now. She had happened upon the critter during one of her scavenging trips in a nearby junkyard.

It was mewling in agony from underneath an old tire that was propped up against some other stuff. Tablitha dropped everything she was doing to attend to the poor little thing. Felines had always been her favorite animal and she had always wanted a pet! Something she could love and it would return it unconditionally…

Tabitha had gone through a lot of trouble and spent a lot of time away from the orphanage to tend to the little thing, and had grown attached to the furball. It was her very first pet! The closest thing she had to a friend and the first to show her any affection. She affectionately called her furry little friend Frankie; a little nickname she'd come up with from the name Dr. Frankenstein, since it was one of her favorite stories. Well, little was she aware that a certain trespassing bully was enjoying wrecking the little lab she'd established for herself!

It was about an hour or so when she returned from her scavenging; her little arms filled with what she'd gathered, as she paused outside of the secret entrance to her "lab". Funny… She hadn't remembered leaving it open. In fact, she was positive she had pushed the trashcans back in place!

With a frown, she quietly set down what she'd been carrying and picked up a slim outside water faucet she'd had among her findings; thankfully it wasn't very long since someone had cut it at some point before tossing it.

Cautiously, she peered around the corner and saw someone sprawled out across the couch cushions; they were snoring loudly whoever they were. As quietly as she could, she crept inside and over toward the person, when her little foot stepped in something that sounded wet…

It made a soft, squishy sound when her foot landed on it. And as the seven year old little girl looked down, her eyes widened in horror as she felt a surge of mind numbing emotions hit her.

On the floor at her feet was the beaten and twisted remains of her beloved little Frankie…! And the wet thing she'd stepped in was a puddle of blood that had come from her. She quickly kneeled down over the black little corpse; setting the pipe between them, as her little hands ever so gently caressed over the soft black fur that was beginning to mat as the blood dried.

The only thing she could think of was her poor little friend lying dead before her as tears streamed silently down her face. She tried to concentrate and use her powers to see if she could save Frankie, but to no avail. The girl knew it wouldn't have worked anyway…

She had powers of Molecular Manipulation and Innate Capability **(A/N: Also known as Intuitive Aptitude, etc. Also powers develop differently for everyone.)** , not life giving… And even if she _could,_ her powers were still very new to her, and she wasn't very strong. Tabitha hadn't gotten the hang of them when it came to these sorts of things! It wouldn't matter if she _could_ heal Frankie, she'd never be able to put the life back into her delicate little frame!

As she sunk further and further into maddening despair, she heard a loud snoring coming from the corner and it felt like something in her snapped! Her dark eyes narrowed lethally. She _knew_ what she had to do now… And as her blood stained little hand closed over the cold steel of the pipe again, she moved to loom over the sleeping brute; her eyes gleaming madly to match the rictus grin that came over her face, with one word in mind. " _Dissect_!"

And dissect she did! She used the pipe to make sure he was knocked out cold and went about using her powers to shift the scraps of metal into restraints and hooks; adding rusty chains from the auto shop to create hooked devices that would hold back his flesh and layers of muscle and tissue as she took her time taking him apart bit by bit to see what made him tick!

Though he made all sorts of sickening screams and sounds while he flailed fruitlessly back and forth like a fish out of water between pleading, praying and cussing at her, it was to no avail for him. No one could hear him where they were, and all it did was cause her to laugh a heartless, maniacal laugh that caused him to become even more frightened, as the room grew steadily colder; his ragged breath coming out in visible puffs!

For that entire day, until the sun rose the next morning, she used her powers to keep him alive so that she could torture him and make him suffer. She poured out her sadness and hatred into her work, but eventually she grew tired from having used her powers for so long and all the emotional strain and drain, so she stopped and the room began to warm. **(A/N: If no one has noticed yet, she uses her molecular manipulation to cause the cold. It's just something that she does really, more than likely an emotional response or way to intimidate. It varies.)**

Poor Frankie was her first and last pet. For some reason she couldn't bear the thought of getting attached like that and have it ripped away again. Sure, she was friends with Rose, but that was different. She _knew_ the older woman could take care of herself after knowing her for so long.

Tabitha just wasn't as attached to the other as she'd been to that kitten. It was just something she found hard to explain or comprehend, so she just pushed it out of her mind; not caring about such useless things as emotions. Whatever good had been left of her back then had died with Frankie; the only being she'd ever been able to ever _truly_ care about…

After that, she went and gave Frankie as proper a burial as she could, got cleaned up, took her books and hid them somewhere safe, and then set the place on fire to get rid of the rest of the evidence before returning to the orphanage. As she was getting ready to sneak back inside, she saw a strange looking vehicle parked outside, and as she peered in through a window she spotted even stranger looking men. She recognized them from newspaper articles and news shows she'd seen while out passing places that had televisions, while she'd been out foraging for goodies.

Those men were Mutant Hunters! They were a group known locally as Uranus; and although in her opinion, it was an insurmountably lame name, at least it wasn't something as stupid as the "X-Men" which to her, sounded like a bad, gay porn movie; not that she had any problems with gays, it's just… Well, very comical and not something that sounds very formidable for being who they're supposed to be.

Again, she digressed… She decided that perhaps it was time to leave the orphanage for good; its not like she had anything there that wasn't easily replaceable, in fact she didn't have anything there to begin with!

The young girl turned to make a stealthy retreat, when one of the orphanage kids spotted her! "Hey! There's the freak!" The kid hollered; pointing and drawing the attention of the men inside. The kid continued to scream and yell to get their attention and it was too late to do anything since he was too far away and they were all ready coming out and saw her.

Oh how she wanted to dissect that stupid brat too! But now was not the time she decided, taking off as fast as her little legs could carry her! They chased her for a while, but she kept on running; until her feet and legs hurt and she was finding it harder to breathe! Though she did her best to push through it however, fate seemed to have other ideas for her, as one of the men pulled out a gun and fired off some warning shots. The girl didn't care though; she'd rather be dead than captured!

And just as she turned a sharp corner, did she feel dread smack her in the face like a sock full of rocks. It was a dead end! She heard one of the men give a dark chuckle as they closed in on her; the other man holding the gun steady and aiming it right at her. Dark eyes flitted around for something to use to defend herself with, but there was nothing! The man without the drawn gun made to lunge at Tabitha, but then the man tripped and fell right on his face!

The young girl and the other man looked down to see what had happened to the moron, only to see that the ground appeared to have swallowed up the man's foot! And not only that, his other one was sinking into the ground as well; like it was quicksand that was actually quick! "AH! BURNING! ITS BURNING ME! OH DEAR GOD!" Cried the sinking man; it seemed the pavement he was sinking into was hot or something by what she observed.

The other man went to help his friend, only to end up getting the same treatment of sinking; but unlike his friend, his shoes were still protecting him; but neither man seemed to be able to wrench themselves free of the hot goop. He aimed his gun angrily at the little girl. "This is your doing you little freak! If you don't stop I'll shoot!" But before she could open her mouth to tell him otherwise, something dressed in black swooped out of nowhere and knocked the weapon from his hands!

In that next moment, the dark clad figure held up a hand as something dull colored and metallic flicked out; the girl recognizing it as a blade! This new, mysterious figure who wasn't much taller than herself, made quick work of stabbing both men in their spines; right in the back of their necks, before slashing their throats for good measure. Silencing them both for good… well, minus the bloodied gurgling.

The little girl's eyes widened as the figure turned to gaze slightly down at her! This person wore a mask too! It wasn't very complex; it was simply a black mask with a white infinity symbol painted onto it where the eyes were supposed to be; and the figure's clothing was rather ratty yet otherwise normal looking black clothes. No silly tights or anything as ridiculous as those X-men people. **(A/N: Lmfao yes I AM bashing them some. I have my reasons. That's all I'm saying.)**

The dark hero wiped off the blood on one of the men's jackets before flipping the knife blade closed and stuffing it back into the pocket she'd procured it from in the first place. "Are you okay kid?" Came a slightly muffled voice from behind the mask. The girl nodded. "Good… Are you a mutant?" Again the girl nodded, not quite sure how else to respond as she didn't really like talking anyway. Nor for that matter had she really spoken in years.

"Figured. We better get out of here now. Come on." She began to walk away around the corner before the orphan reached out and grabbed the person's sleeve. "Wait! What about them?" She pointed to the two dead bodies; only to notice that they were already half sunken in the ground!

The young girl made a note to figure out how the other girl had done that, so that she could attempt to try it out via manipulating the molecules later on. One never knew when it might come in handy after all... **(A/N: For anyone wondering, it was done via pyrokinesis. Basically she melted the concrete or asphalt, whatever it was, but only enough to where it would be a scalding goop. And yes Tabitha WOULD be able to heat the ground like that via Molecular Manipulation, like how she makes it cold.)**

"That answer your question kid?" The taller of the two replied; sounding somewhat amused and cocky, before starting off again. Tabitha scowled and followed the strange person; still holding onto her sleeve, but the taller either didn't seem to mind or simply didn't notice. "My name's not _kid_!"

"Oh yeah? Then what is it?"

At this, she paused and frowned sadly. "I… I don't know… They never gave me a name at the orphanage… B-but it's not like I wanted them too anyway!" She added the last part with a rather defiant and angry pout. The black clad individual turned to look down at the other; at least, she figured the masked person was looking at her. "Yah seem like a nice kid… So I'll see what I can do. _But_!" The older one said, holding up a gloved finger. "I can only take responsibility of you, if you join my gang. Sound fair?"

The smaller one frowned skeptically as they continued to walk down many twists and turns of dark alleys and shady streets at a hasty pace. "Gang? Just who are you and what kind of deal is this anyway?" She didn't need to end up in a worse situation than the orphanage, so she had every right to be cynical. "Oh, right! Where _are_ my manners!" The other said in an amused way. "The name is Rose, but everyone I know calls me Infinita."

"Infinita? Why Infinita?"

"It's the Italian feminine form of the word Infinity… And, well…" The taller of the two rubbed the back of her head in a rather sheepish way. "Being a mutant and all, I'm kind of a complicated person in regards to _what_ it is that I am capable of and the seeming lack of limits to my powers. Yah know?" For some reason, the girl gave a nod; feeling that she actually _did_ know and understand for once.

"And as for the rest of your question, I'm the leader of a gang known as the "Phantom Renegades" ever since our former leader died. Apart of my job as leader is to try and help fellow mutants from getting caught; like you almost were, and offer them a chance to join up with us, so we'll have a better chance at survival… Or something like that…" Rose finished with a shrug; it seemed she was pretty mellow for someone who supposedly had such a great responsibility for someone her age.

The girl muddled this. Well, it wasn't like she had much to lose, and at least she would be able to use her powers more… "Fine. But I want a _good_ name." The girl stated finally. "What about a mutant name?" The little girl shrugged. "I don't much care for them… I don't want to be a hero, and it isn't like anyone would recognize me anyway." There came an amused chortle from behind the mask.

"Come on then. We better hurry up and get outta here!" Rose said in a giddy tone, holding out her gloved hand to the smaller girl, who glaringly regarded the hand for a moment before she reached out and took a hold of the outstretched appendage with her smaller hand. Tabitha continued to glare but in a cute pouting sort of way as they ran away hand in hand. And with that, the little girl joined the taller girl's gang and became a Phantom Renegade!

It wasn't long before the two girls got to know each other a little better, and the smaller saw what was behind the mask; which was just a simple, older girl with short black hair and silvery, pale grey eyes. She also discovered that Infinita had the power of Absorption and that she could obtain the powers, memories, and many other things via coming into contact with the skin or bodily fluids of another being, but was still learning how to use her powers.

She even confided in the girl how she herself suffered from nightmares from not only her own past but sometimes a memory of someone whose powers she'd absorbed but had accidentally collected a memory from in the process; and that she wasn't sure if she was born with a Healing Factor or if she'd picked it up unconsciously.

As Rose learned about the other, she decided that since she liked cats so much, she'd give her a feline type of name that sounded sweet. So she chose "Tabitha" because, despite the warped, cold exterior, she knew there was good in Tabitha; whether she admitted it or not, so she also gave her the last name "Tenshi" which she'd learned from somewhere meant "Angel".

Tabitha had made a deal with Rose that entailed her allowing the older girl to absorb her powers so that her Intuitive Aptitude would allow Rose to better master and understand her abilities, but only if Rose allowed her to do some examining so she could figure out how Rose's powers worked for herself.

However, Rose only agreed to it if Tabitha gained the proper medical knowledge and supplies first; just to be on the safe side. It was fair to say that they both learned much about their mutant abilities over the years and a lot from each other, but Tabitha didn't get to do a biopsy on her friend until she'd finished Med school later on in years, but that's getting ahead of things…

And thus, back on topic; young Tabitha came to have not only her life saved, but she gained a new one along with an identity all her own! Rose trained her in what she herself knew, and apart from books to study from, she watched the other mutants and learned via that or the other two mutants who were on friendly terms with her, but not as well as Rose was. Although, she still didn't seem to get along very well, what with her trying to learn more by dissecting or experimenting on a few of the ones who annoyed or offended her in some way.

Rose and a small few that were close to Rose, were kind enough to look out for her. A girl who was a little older than Rose, named Violet who was in fact a human; thought most of what Tabitha did was pretty comical and even helped her in some of her exploits because she thought it'd be a good prank! While another girl around Violet's age, named Emily was usually the one to reprimand both of them for their childish antics. Even if Tabitha didn't like her "research" being interfered with, she did learn a lot from Emily and even Violet as well.

But alas! All good things must come to an end! The group had their ups and downs over the next few years, but unlike some groups; with the wit of Rose and the inventive skills of Tabitha, the Phantom Renegades had been able to turn an abandoned underground train station, into a nice little hideout for themselves. And on top of that, they started being able to afford to better educate themselves in a home schooling styled way that was funded by Rose after she one day borrowed one of Tabitha's books; saying she was curious about something.

Unfortunately, the base became compromised when a few of the group who had gone out, ended up getting followed by some members of Uranus **(A/N: LMFAO! That name keeps making me laugh! XD)** when they came back! That night all Hell had broken loose!

Tabitha remembered she'd been awake; since she hardly slept anyway; a problem that seemed to get worse as she got older, when she heard the sound of many footsteps. She went to investigate only to see soldiers getting into position!

Tabitha hurried and woke up Rose, who helped her wake up the others who were closest; then after a quick battle plan, they sounded the alarm and the fight ensued! And everyone was awake by then! No one was sure how long the battle had gone on, or even who was winning really.

There was so much chaos that Rose couldn't properly tactician her group like she wanted to once everyone was so far spread out; even though she had ordered them all to stay close. Only those closest to her like Tabitha tried to listen, but as the old saying goes, crap happens…!

She'd somehow gotten separated from Tabitha; whom was still one of the smallest and youngest of the group, and could still be pretty defenseless since she was only ten; especially when she got caught up trying to slice someone open. Curse that one track mind she got when it came to that!

Rose felt very responsible for the kid and usually kept her on her team whenever they went to do something, since they worked well together and she could better keep the smaller girl's mental stability and such in check; so as not to harm the other members of their group via dissection or worse. Even if she could only do so much. So, when she saw Tabitha strangling a soldier with the intestines of, what she guessed belonged to another, she at first thought she'd be okay.

But then, as Rose was busy filling one of the bastards with lead from his own gun, she noticed someone tossed a grenade that landed near Tabitha. She literally dropped everything she was doing and sprinted across their home and current battlefield in a flash! And then she lunged at the smaller girl; knocking her away from it and using her own body as a shield. Rose only hoped her healing ability would save her. No sooner had their bodies hit the ground, had the grenade exploded, and everything went black!

Tabitha hadn't really registered what the heck had happened, but the only sound she could hear at first was the ringing in her ears. The smell of burnt flesh and blood filled her nostrils as she struggled out from under the body on top of her to try and get away from it and whoever it was that had knocked her over.

But she realized it was Rose and that her friend wasn't moving! For a few moments she forgot herself and tore off the damaged mask from her friends face before she began to frantically shake the girl; wondering if she was still alive. She knew now it wasn't the best thing to have done, but it was a heat of the moment sort of deal…

"WAKE UP! YOU HAVE TO WAKE UP!" Tabitha yelled at the other girl, afraid for the second time in her life that she would lose someone. But thankfully the other was breathing faintly; despite burns, abrasions, and other injuries that covered the back half of Rose's body that was in the process of healing. Her pale eyes painfully fluttered open to stare in a blank and confused way up at the girl.

Tabitha managed to calm down a little so she could move Rose over to some cover over in one of the small rooms. Once her friend had managed to recover enough, they rejoined the fray, and fought until the soldiers fell back.

Their leader took count of everyone and saw that quite a few were badly injured, only two had died; one had simply been too young and inexperienced and the other was one of the few humans who joined their group; like Violet.

You see, unlike most mutant groups that were around, Rose allowed anyone who was pro-mutant and needed help, to have a place in her gang. To her, the death of one of these humans was just as much of a loss as losing a fellow mutant. And although such strange morals and whatnot baffled the little boffin, she couldn't help but feel a strong sense of respect for Infinita and looked to her as a role model; even if she'd never admit it to that overly playful weed's face…

During the count, Rose discovered that not only was Violet unaccounted for, but quite a few of their fellow Renegades were missing; she figured they must have gotten captured during the attack. She put Tabitha in charge of triage and tending to the wounded; she'd also put those who were capable or useful, under Tabitha's charge while she further assessed the situation.

Now, while the younger of the two was busy, she still noticed how strange their leader behaved and how she put Emily in charge while she disappeared. Although Emily had been a usual choice for being placed in command; Tabitha didn't like the uncharacteristically pensive expression that Emily wore when she thought no one was looking. The older, more mature female hardly ever brooded like this… She wondered where their leader had disappeared to; especially when Emily told her that even she didn't know.

When Rose returned later the next day though, her clothing was even more tattered and singed than it had been from their earlier battle; with new blood stains and spatterings of debris. And the mask she usually wore; that Tabitha had built a device into to protect their leader from any types of poisonous or other dangers gases and toxins, had definitely seen better days. Part of the top half where her left eye could now be seen, had been shattered and there were small dents, scraps and other things on it; and some of the white horizontal 8 that was painted on had come off.

But as she trudged into their lair, behind her followed the missing members of their group; like Violet, who had mistakenly been taken since they figured she was a mutant, including a few people Tabitha hadn't seen. Tabitha later learned that they were also being held captive at the facility their people had been taken to!

Turns out Rose had somehow tracked that pack of bumbaclot soldiers down to that particular facility, rescued all of the mutants they had prisoner, and then proceeded to demolish the place! All of them eagerly regaled the rest of the group on how awesomely Rose had stormed the place and how they all feared she had died when the building was destroyed and collapsed in on itself! But how, out of the wrecked remnants, she emerged like a black clad phoenix from the Hellish ashes!

But, even though some of their renditions of what had happened, all varied in certain aspects; like how one guy said she ripped one guy's head off while one girl argued that she didn't rip it off, she threw a potato so hard it exploded the guy's head, still they all agreed that it was the coolest thing they'd been involved in since they'd joined the Phantom Renegades! And they were all glad to be free and alive.

Tabitha felt rather disappointed that she couldn't have gone all Jack the Ripper on some more people, but knew Rose had trusted her to stay and tend to the wounded since she was the most medically competent; thanks to all the medical books and such that Rose had procured for her. **(A/N: Remember, she has Intuitive Aptitude so she can learn how to do anything.)** With a sigh, she realized she'd rather have stayed out of it anyway.

Still… it might've been neat to have seen what kind of technology and such that they had, simply to better understand what tricks their enemies had for them, but mainly because it would've been interesting to see.

Rose had gone to check on the wounded before retiring to her own room to rest. But she approached her later on that night and told her about what had really happened, and Tabitha just listened.

Infinita had stealthily infiltrated the facility and had figured out where their gang was being held. Turns out some had been locked up, waiting to be experimented on, while a few others were currently being experimented on or in the process of it! She'd kindly tended to those mutants first. Poor Violet had been one of them and had apparently tried to tell them she was a human; but they told her that they couldn't trust her and would find out the hard way.

Their leader had interrupted them and saved Violet whom, luckily hadn't gotten sliced open yet. Then they went about rescuing the rest and fighting off who ever got in their way; killing them for good measure. And after all of this, Rose confided in Tabitha that she suspected that this whole thing wasn't as much of a coincidence as they were lead to believe, and that she planned to get to the bottom of it soon, but she wouldn't say anymore when Tabitha tried to question. Rose merely told her that she had a good idea as to what had happened, but she needed to make sure she was right.

It wasn't too long afterward, when everyone was patched up and getting better, that some of the newcomers decided to leave. It turns out a few of them were X-Men, or at least they were young enough to attend the school in hopes of one day becoming one. They spoke about how neat it was to live at the mansion and how they lived such a nice, luxurious life, blah, blah, blah. Tabitha scowled and went back to reading her book; trying to tune them out. But apparently, quite a few of their group wanted to go to the Xavier school too.

In fact, the ones that wanted to go; and it was a pretty large group, ended up using a guilt trip on Rose about how they could all live better lives, etc. and if they didn't like it, they could just leave. Tabitha, Violet and even Emily tried to persuade Rose to just ignore them, but Rose felt it was her responsibility to look out for them; and that this included their welfare.

So, the ones who wanted to go, left with Rose; who wanted to make sure they got there safe. Tabitha went with her, since she didn't much care to be around anyone else, even if she was on friendly terms with Violet and Emily; she simply wanted to make sure Rose didn't end up getting killed or something stupid like that because of these morons she had to escort.

Emily was left in charge with Violet as her second in command; much to Emily's slight annoyance and Violet's mischievous delight! Needless to say, much pranking and getting chased down by the mutant in charge would be done, and no doubt Rose would get an earful when they got back. But it would end up like that either way. Besides, Violet behaved much better when given something productive to do.

Well, Rose met with Charles Xavier and they had a discussion about everything. He thanked them for saving and returning his students, and said if they wanted they could stay, so it worked out pretty well… At least, it did for the idiots who wanted to stay there; thinking they were getting a good deal.

Which in some aspects, yes they kind of were… But the big picture was that they'd be bigger targets since the Phantom Renegades hardly ever fought. In fact, they only had one or two major skirmishes and whatnot per year and mainly because they went out to terrorize anti-mutant groups like Uranus! Otherwise they were pretty well left alone in that aspect.

Tabitha knew Rose didn't like being there, and she only stayed because she felt responsible for those ungrateful idiots… The little boffin however, did her best to go around and learn all she could from mutants like Beast and Forge; but the only thing they had that was useful were their tools, technology, and books. In regards to teaching her anything, they told her to join one of their classes, rather than answering questions she had that didn't even come up in their class material! The morons…

It seemed Rose thought they were idiots too; mainly due to when the school was attacked while they were there and some of the selfish Renegades ended up listening to Xavier's orders instead of hers, and got themselves killed. So, Infinita went around obtaining the powers of every mutant there, before informing the remaining members of the group that she was going to leave.

When Rose told them why and asked who wanted to leave with her, the only person who followed her was Tabitha. And what annoyed the umber haired mutant the most was that they got angry and tried to start a whole argument with Rose; insulting her and blaming _her_ for the death of their comrades, but the leader had had enough and told them that if they really wanted to stay, that was fine, but she wasn't going to have anything else to do with a bunch of unappreciative traitors! And with that, she left!

It was incredibly difficult to truly _anger_ Rose, but the younger mutant had never remembered a time when she had seen their usually calm, courageous, and happy-go-lucky leader so upset! And it was because of this that lead to Tabitha following the leader rather fumingly; having been ordered by Rose not to tear them apart like she'd wanted to for upsetting the older mutant so!

It was at this point that Rose had enough of being the groups leader; after all the years of having tried to do her best at protecting them and making sure they lived comfortably, only to find out that almost all of them thought it was all beneath them, and disrespected her so. She just couldn't stand the treachery anymore!

The younger of the two soon found out after pressing the issue that, this wasn't the first time that people left the group in such an uncouth way or that she'd been disrespected or betrayed and that, there had been a few worse cases of treachery. For example: Rose told her that the only reason anyone found their hidden underground base, was that those mutants who said they were followed, were actually the ones who lead the soldiers there to begin with!

They claimed they were promised to be left alone and rewarded. And the reason Rose had gone to rescue everyone was because she sensed foul play and it turned out to be far worse than she thought.

Rose also told her that ironically, they had gotten captured and that she had tried to do the benevolent thing and have them apologize for their malicious actions. Only for them to argue by saying they didn't regret what they did and the usual selfish drivel; that jerks like that prattle on about. So, to teach them a lesson, she killed them and then finished up her rescue mission.

When they returned, Infinita told them all that she was resigning as leader and informed said person that was chosen to take over; since Emily wanted no part in becoming the permanent leader, about everything that was needed to know. Such as, the hidden room filled with gold bars that Rose had made from scrap metal, using Tabitha's Molecular Manipulation ability and that book she'd borrowed; and that is part of how she'd been funding everything for so long and how they had been living so well, but she didn't want to let everyone know since there was no telling who the traitors were until it was too late.

Then she left, but Tabitha as usual, followed her despite the older girl's protests; being worried that the younger girl might not like where she was going and trying to look out for her well being. But Tabitha knew where it was the safest and that it was the wiser choice to follow Rose.

Besides, the shorter girl didn't want to leave the other because she knew she'd be alone again… And she _hated_ that. So together, they got a place, established their identities, gained their education, and became doctors; although they decided it was best to live in separate apartments once they were old enough, because of all of Tabitha's noisy experiments and such, and also because Rose got annoyed from having woken up with the top of her skull open again, while the Science fiend poked and prodded at her brain!

And as she began to smirk wickedly at all the other heinous things she'd gotten away with while living with Rose, she became distracted from her thoughts by the egg timer going off with a loud buzz! Ah, well… She could think about it later. Right now she had important issues to deal with. Like finding out whether or not a certain blonde woman was a candidate for her latest experiment…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WELL! There yah have it! Some parts of Rose's past have been revealed along with Tabitha's!
> 
> I've all ready had Rose explain why her mutant name is "Infinita" since it just means "Infinity" in Italian. I mean her powers are pretty infinite/unlimited or whatever, so it fits. I had a whole list of what I could've called her, but nothing seemed to fit as well.
> 
> Okay so in regards to the name of that mutant hunting group, I felt like adding a comical element to something that's supposed to be all "serious" and such, Lmfao and since I've heard lame names for evil groups, etc before, I decided to have some fun. You may ask "Why Uranus?" and my answer would be "Why not?" Kuwahahahahahahahahah! I mean it sounds like "Your Anus" so yeah.


	12. Venom No More!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rose gets a new costume and Spidey gets caught in one wicked web!

Fast forwarding back to when Rose left the Osborn Manor that evening; with a mischievous grin on her face and a mood to match! She decided that she would put this newfound playful energy to good use and further entertain herself. And she knew _just_ which puppet's strings she wanted to pull!

So, once she made sure she was as far away from the Osborn place as possible, they transformed into Venom. But, of course Rose then paused and it made the symbiote curious and a little impatient.

' _What's the matter? Shouldn't we be doing something now?'_ At this, she frowned thoughtfully as she eyed her own reflection in the glass of a closed shop.

"Hmm… I think it's time for a change. When you were with Eddie you were Venom, but now you are with _me,_ so we should be ourselves. Don't you think so?"

And after the bit of silence, the symbiote spoke again.

' _Hmm, this is true. We are not as we once were, so we should not be as such anymore… But be as we are and want to be now.'_ It's tone seemed as if it was having some sort of epiphany as it spoke slowly and with growing confidence. It figured that since Rose had gone and shared a few select memories with it during their watching of the Goblin Boy, that perhaps it was time for a change. **(A/N: The memory explained in Chapter 11.)**

"Good. Now, I'll let you know my thoughts on the matter, so let's see how that looks. Okay?" Rose could feel it agreeing with her as the black suit wriggled enthusiastically and began to change.

Black tendrils replaced the pale green ones that made up her hair. The white areas that made up her menacing eyes became a bit rounder so they formed into a lemniscate shape that was the symbol for infinity; the black symbiotic goo still allowing her mouth to be exposed with those trademark fang-like teeth. In the middle of the whites of her masks eyes, there was a shining bit of black to make the infinity symbol more apparent.

She now had matching white scar shaped inverted 8's on the palms and back of her clawed hands; they were smooth and sleek like the rest of the suit. And across her inky black suit formed a random zigzag styled barbed wire pattern.

All of the parts of her suit, like the newly formed eyes on her mask and symbols on her hands that had been previously white, now turned to a shade of platinum that looked like it hadn't solidified yet; giving it that extra eerie effect. **(A/N: So basically even the platinum parts of her suit look fluid. By the way, it was knightmare1986 who mentioned how it'd be cool if she had a name change and it gave me this idea to change her name and appearance! So thank you!)**

Rose eyed her new reflection and that playful grin returned full force.

"Ohhhh! How positively _wicked_... I like it!" It wasn't a drastic change or anything; but she was very happy not to resemble that witless web weaver anymore.

They started off again, and after walking up the wall and onto the roof of the shop she started web-slinging off into the direction that they could sense Spider-Man would be found in.

' _What do we call ourselves now?'_ At this they both became rather thoughtful. Then they seemed to agree on a thought, as the presence of that hollow headed puppet drew ever nearer!

Peter Parker had been having one heck of a time ever since that crazy battle with Sandman and Eddie. But it seemed to get even more freaky now that there was a new Venom on the prowl! What freaked him out the worse though, was the fact that this enemy didn't seem to have the same M.O. as the previous one.

Sure it wanted revenge, but the host herself seemed to have no problem with him really, except the fact that she felt the need to defend and avenge the symbiote. It seemed she had somehow made friends with it or something. She didn't want to kill him so much as torment him. What the heck was with that?!

' _Ah well, I suppose it's better than wanting me dead, right…? Kind of a refreshing change really… What with having faced two homicidal Green Goblins, an overly ambitious scientist who was being manipulated by his own invention, heh irony, oh and not to mention all the other criminals who seem to want to squash me! No-ooo, this one only wants to mess with me! Ugh… I suppose she's what you'd call the_ _ **lesser**_ _evil?'_ He frowned under his mask even more.

' _At least_ _ **I hope**_ _she is…'_ He wondered if perhaps he could try and bring her over to the side of good instead. Perhaps she just needed a reason to fight for justice like he did! **(A/N: Pffft! HAH! Ri-iiiight… Yeah… you fight for justice… like sugar pills cure AID's! XP Ahem! Sorry readers… It had to be said. Lmfao! I REGRET NOTHING!)**

He had been web-slinging along and had been in mid-swing very, VERY high above the lively streets of the city, when **WHAM!** he felt his entire body collide with some unseen force! In fact, upon trying to move, it seemed that he was stuck to whatever it was!

An amused and very familiar laugh reached his ears as he managed to turn his head in the direction it was coming from. But what met his eyes was not the person he remembered seeing a few days ago. If possible, she seemed to look even sexier and deadlier than before! He didn't know whether to go into hero mode and start with the angry banter or ask her out!

' _Gah! What the heck brain?!'_

Her fanged smirk widened as if seeing his internal conflict through the mask.

"Well, well, what have we here? A little pest is caught in our web!? My, how unlucky you seem to be these days, _Petey_."

Spider-Man struggled anew as he snapped himself back into hero mode.

"Yeah, I feel like the last acorn of Winter, to all you nutty squirrels." He replied with a sarcastically cheery tone. She gave a short laugh as she crawled spider-like toward the victim caught in her web.

The symbiote suited woman came right up so that they were face to face; only half a foot or so separating their masked faces. Her sharp teeth gleamed lethally in the city lights as she smirked.

"Hmm, well you are just as much a "nut" as those criminals you fight, so it makes sense."

His eyes widened behind his mask as he suddenly felt her clawed hand lightly creeping up his chest to stop on the other side of his throat; holding it firmly in place. But, what was worse was the fact that he felt his body reacting in a way he _really_ hoped it wouldn't!

' _Oh Spidey, this is no time to be getting turned on by a psychopath…! No matter how hot she is!_ T.T _'_ Peter tried to calm himself; feeling embarrassed as he remembered a few other times in the past when someone else made him react in such a compromising way… But even more disturbing, was that he'd much rather it be _**that**_ other person than this one…!

"Now, now little pest… We have good news for you! Don't you want to hear it?" His struggling ceased as his eyebrow quirked behind the mask. In a cautious voice, he asked a question he wasn't quite sure he wanted the answer to.

"Uh, sure… So what's this good news then, Venom?"

At this she seemed to grin wider, to the point he wondered if she was going to open wide and rip out his throat with her fangs.

"Firstly, I think I should inform you that _we_ are Venom no more, now we are Infinita! We find this new name befits us." She seemed to pause as if awaiting his response. It was apparently important to the symbiote as it gave a visible tremble when she said the new name; as if excited.

"O-ookay…? That's… nice…?" He said a tad nervously and uncertainly, but that seemed to satisfy the symbiote as she continued.

"Secondly, I have negotiated with my partner that after tonight you and it shall be considered "even", but we must let you know that should you bother us or we just feel like it, we may be back to "play" some more." She drug one of her razor sharp claws across his cheek; leaving a thin cut that was just deep enough to slice cleanly through the material of his mask and cause a little bleeding. He winched and gritted his teeth; inhaling sharply.

"But, I didn't do anything wrong! That, _that THING_ made me do all those horrible things! It was going to hurt someone! So why don't you just- AAAAHHHHH!" His stream of idiotic drivel fouled her jovial mood very quickly, so she decided to shut him up by running her claw through the same cut they'd made; making it just the tiniest bit deeper.

" **LIES!** " They hissed acidly; causing him to visibly flinch.

"You are nothing but an egomaniacal moron! You're not _worthy_ of the friends and loved ones you have, nor of being called a hero! You know the truth! That dark little secret you've been keeping locked away in the cobwebs of that empty little head of yours!" She emphasized this by painfully and sharply poking his forehead.

"And what's that exactly?!" He said angrily through gritted teeth; having had enough of this and wanting very desperately to be free so he could shut her up with a good punch or two. At this, all previous anger and other hateful emotions were replaced with that knowingly mischievous smirk, and he knew nothing good would come of an expression like that.

"Because, _Petey,_ the truth is that the symbiote can't make you do anything _you_ don't _want_ to do." At this his eyes widened behind his mask in realization.

"No… No that can't be true… I would never… I-I… I'm not evil… I'm not like _**you**_!" But instead of getting punished again, to his great surprise, she seemed further amused.

"You idiot… You know nothing of me, the symbiote, nor evil. Not all is black and white. There is much gray in this world, and if you cannot understand this, then I fear you may die by other hands than ours. We are not evil, nor are we good. We are simply us, and that is all we ever have to be. We will fight for and do what is right when we see it is necessary. We have done no evil so far. In fact, we are even going to teach you a lesson…"

Before he could open his mouth to say another word, she lunged forward; razor sharp teeth bared as they ripped effortlessly through the material of his suit and into the flesh of his neck! The sensation of utter agony shot throughout his body like he'd just been stuck by a hot piece of iron; followed by the strange feeling of his body becoming limp and useless.

The more he tried to struggle, the quicker he seemed to become unable to, as he began to feel like a puppet whose strings had just been cut. His dazed and pain addled mind told him that he had just been paralyzed!

She pulled back; spitting out the small amount of his blood that had gotten into her mouth before using the back of her hand to wipe the rest off. She grimaced; like his blood was unfit for her to even bother consuming.

For little did he realize just how loathsome and disgusting he was in her eyes since he'd tried to play the victim in his rejecting of the symbiont. And although he didn't know it, the wound had already healed, thanks to her own powers; but only so that he would not die of exsanguination.

"We figured out how to use one of our many tricks to make a toxin, just for you! You will be paralyzed for a while and unable to escape the punishment we have devised! Neat, huh?"

"How… Thoughtful…" He managed to say in mock sincerity.

"You have only yourself to blame, puny Parker. I was actually going to do something a little different and much less severe, but you just had to go and insult my friend again by blaming it for all that you knowingly did and took such twisted pleasure in. If it weren't for the _one_ thing that is saving you, I would have just killed you for that…" No matter how she'd tried to be nice and patient with this idiot, he just HAD to go and piss her off like that! The ingrate!

Rose had grown very fond of the symbiote and felt very protective of it as well. So, even though she hadn't had any murderous feelings for him before; he was really starting to make her consider it… a LOT.

At this he felt his curiosity welling up again.

"What… What "thing"?" She merely grinned dangerously and placed her clawed hand on his chest again; her fingers slowly curling around the fabric.

"It's more fun if you don't know. Hah, just because it's keeping you alive, doesn't mean it will save you from this." And with that he braced himself; closing his eyes as he heard a tearing sound and felt a sudden chill on his chest. He opened his eyes, but they widened as he saw that she had ripped off the torso half of his suit; only his sleeves were still intact!

"Wh-what exactly… a-are you going to do?!" Spider-Man's voice couldn't help but crack with fear. He was paralyzed and bound to a web, and at the mercy of an embittered symbiote with psychotic and homicidal tendencies and it's terrifyingly unpredictable host; who didn't seem to be very fond of him after having bad mouthed Venom or rather Infinita… Whatever.

So yeah, he had every right to be frightened and ready to wet his suit! Especially when she began shredding off the sleeves; leaving thin streaks of red on his flesh like she had his cheek.

"We're going to punish the cruel little pest… And teach you a lesson once and for _all_ …"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rose is getting all old skool with her Infinita costume! XD Because I thought her original style would look good if it were re-done in the symbiote suit; since it just seems to make awesomely wicked outfits! 
> 
> I know her costume didn't have any sort of drastic change, but I love how fluid and seamless the symbiote suit always looked and I wanted to keep that look therefore, I decided to just change the white markings on it some to fit her new name. Plus I like the fluid black with some light color (in this case platinum since Black Cat has the whole "white and black theme" covered) theme; helps keep her looking all freaky and sexy like a female symbiote suit wearer should XD. And I think black hair (which is her natural color anyways, but it's longer and more wild looking in symbiote form since it's made from the symbiote) suits their costume better than any other color I considered. And by considered, I mean I did doodles with different hair colors. XD I don't have a scanner or anything so I can't show yah even if I wanted to, so please don't ask Lmfao.
> 
> Speaking of which; if anyone was wondering why I chose the name "Infinita" it is because she does seem to have a seemingly insurmountable (or infinate) amount of various powers and skills, so yeah. I mean she has an absorption ability, a Healing factor and on top of that she copied Tabitha's Intuitive Aptitude, Lmfao you just take the last two and you have a skillful person, you add all three and you have one formidable foe or one awesome ally! 
> 
> Also "Infinita" is as far as I'm aware, the feminine form of the word "Infinity" in Italian. Anywho, I think it fits her. It took me a while to decided on a name Lmfao, so yeah… I thank my friend who helped me narrow down which ones I came up with to pick from. And special thanks goes out to the reviewer (whom I mentioned earlier) who gave me the idea to change her name. Plus it is her chosen mutant name. Figured she'd be all cool and nice and share it with Venom/the Symbiote! X3


	13. The End of Spider-Man?!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Spidey gets more punishment at the hands of Infinita!

Peter flinched and turned his head away as he saw her raise her claws again before bringing them down. He didn't want to see what she was going to do to him! But yet once more he heard that same ripping sound and peeked down to see that she was tearing his pants to shreds!

"St-stop that! Why are you doing this?!" His fear turned to panicked embarrassment. It was really strange how one's own terror could be put on the back burner by something as silly as your own approaching nakedness.

"Like we said, _punishing_ you." **(A/N: Anyone order the Naked Spider-Man with the side of Sadomasochism? Lmfao Infinita's the Sadist and he's the Masochist!)** She didn't even look up at him as she went swiftly about her work. He could hear the people below making all kinds of chatter as a few of the passersby on the streets took notice!

' _No! Don't look! I'm a hero! They aren't supposed to see me like this!'_ Oh this couldn't be happening! What if this ended up in the newspapers? Or the news? Or worse still… Youtube! Man, he hated this! He couldn't seem to think of a way out of the whole situation! His mind was all foggy from whatever kind of freaky toxin she had injected him with and there wasn't a thing he could do about it!

Peter couldn't help but be reminded of when he was dosed with a spray of knockout gas that Norman had surprised him with, back when he was fighting against the original Green Goblin. He had been completely helpless then too! He gave an involuntary shiver at the memory, although he wasn't sure why…

Oh the humanity if ever someone was able to get a good picture of him! He had no doubt that even his super cheap boss would pay big for that picture… Parker could see the headlines already. **"NAKED SPIDER-MAN FOUND DEAD IN WEB! CORPSE MOLESTED BY CRAZED FANGIRLS!"**

He shuddered at the sheer, unadulterated horror. He'd rather it end here and now than to suffer through what nightmares would be brought upon him by whacko fan girls and their twisted fetishes and junk. And he could see quite a few of them already gathering around below! Calling and waving up to him and cheering him on to get the villain and asking if they could have his baby, etc.

' _Why me?!'_

His attention was once more brought back to the seemingly psychopathic symbiote as she laughed; though it sounded more like a cruel bark.

"You know Petey… I was soooo going to make you pay for insulting my friend by stripping you naked and leaving you here… But now…" She laughed quite wickedly as he blinked in confusion behind his mask.

"So… You're going to let me go…?" He asked hesitantly, praying to whatever deity watched over him that she'd free him.

"Oh, goodness no! There's no fun in that!" Annnnd now he knew whoever that God was, clearly liked screwing with him. It was like his life was in some kind of twisted, messed up fan fiction or something!

"Besides, I told you that you still need to be chastised for your heartless crimes against my friend the symbiote. And I cannot go against my honor and let such a foolish fiend as you go without having learned your lesson." He could feel his eyes watering; welling up with tears that he tried with all his might to keep from spilling out.

"B-but please! I've learned my lesson! I swear!"

At this she paused; her readied claws lowering to rub her chin thoughtfully and her brow quirked skeptically.

"Oh _really_ now? Do tell, what is the lesson?" It was his turn to pause, though his was more frantic as she watched him panicking to try and dig up some answer that might appease her and end this whole nightmare.

"I… I learned that… You shouldn't judge others by their appearances…" He paused and she seemed to be waiting for him to say more; raising her hand back into its earlier slashing position.

"An-nnnnd?" Ugh, darn! He hated when he was right!

"A-and that… I… Uh… Should be… Nicer to villains…?" Peter all but managed with his voice squeaking a little.

Peter could visibly see her eye give a twitch at his answer and then she smirked like a Cheshire cat.

"Ooooh, _not even close_!" And her sharp talons came down to cut off the only piece of clothing still on him besides his mask; that being his underwear. But, he didn't hear a ripping sound, he felt no pain, and when he looked down, he heaved a sigh of shock and relief to see that his underwear was still on!

"Now, the lesson is that you shouldn't have spoken so ill of what you know nothing of nor even bothered to try and understand, that being my friend the symbiote. And also that you should have apologized to it and acknowledged that it was your desires, your rage and hatred that made you do all those things. The symbiote only lent you the power you so desperately sought to do these as you pleased. It only wanted you to be happy and for your pain to stop… Unlike the rest of it's kind, it wanted to protect and love it's host, but you treated it with such unspeakable cruelty that I would kill you right now just at the very thought of it!" Her claws flexed menacingly but then she sighed and seemed to calm down again.

"But… There _is_ good in you… I cannot deny. And I know the symbiote doesn't really want you dead despite what it says… Neither do I really. And, although I find you to be an utterly despicable pest, there is still a reason for which I will not end you. Besides, death is too swift for the likes of you… No, I think you shall be best left to suffer instead. I'm betting the media would just _love_ to get some pictures of a half naked Spider-Man! Wearing nothing but his mask and-" She snickered darkly as she eyed his lower region.

"Spidey themed undies! I mean seriously?! You do realize those are for children, right? Are you _really_ that into yourself? Heh, sorry that question obviously answers itself. Ah well! Down to business then!" And with that she pulled a camera out of the material of the symbiote suit and started taking pictures.

He tried and tried to plead with her to stop but she just ignored him and clicked away until she felt she had a sufficient amount before taking off his mask to get a few good pictures of his face for good measure and then putting the red material back over his pathetically distraught face.

Then, she held up the evil device that he had moments ago loved and made his living off of, and she smirked oh so wickedly.

"Now! If you ever bother us again or say a-annnything bad about us or to us, etcetera, etcetera, I shall have no qualms about submitting this to any form of media that I wish. Do you understand?"

Peter couldn't believe what he was hearing! She was… She couldn't be…

"YOU'RE BLACKMAILING ME?!" Parker's tone ended up being higher pitched than he'd intended, but he was too shocked to have really cared either.

"Heheh, guess all that fancy book learning did you some good after all!" She snickered again and put the camera back inside her suit.

"By the way, we're not a villain. More accurately we are what is known as an Anti-Hero, you twit… Thought you should know that since you're too stupid to realize that either."

The black clad anti-hero moved off of her hovering perch over Peter to lean casually against the building opposite of him; one foot sticking to the glass as the other stretched out languidly to be positioned on the web; her arms folded loosely over her chest as she watched him.

Infinita thought about what else she could do to him to make sure the message sunk in, as the symbiote waited very impatiently and excitedly as she mulled over quite a few ideas; a lot of which the alien was all for doing!

That familiar yet bizarre feeling like one is being watched crept over Rose as she frowned ever so slightly, for she knew it wasn't anyone below in the streets nor any of the buildings around them; it's why she'd chosen this particular spot, so that they wouldn't be seen or interrupted.

' _Hmm… Now that IS interesting…'_ The symbiotic host mused as her smirk returned.

"Showtime Spidey!" Infinita said abruptly and cheerfully, as she decided to pull the camera back out and set it to video mode, so that she could record what was going to happen next; for further blackmailing material of course!

"Wh-what?" He asked; wondering what the heck she had planned for him next. "I'll not repeat myself." The wicked woman told him as she gave him a swift kick to his "Spider-Senses" **(A/N: If yah know what I mean! LOL)** as he gave a strangled scream and tried, but was unable to double over in pain; due to his webbed restraints and the toxin in his system.

She gave a cold laugh.

"So, tell me… are your senses "tingling" now?" He glared at her, but in vain since his mask was on and she couldn't even see it; however, Peter had an inkling Infinita knew exactly how he was feeling when she wanted to… and that rather disturbed him.

His eyes widened as three sleek, black tendrils slithered from her suit and one began to move toward him! It wrapped swiftly around his mouth to silence him as he began to try and inquire frantically what was going on, and she could have none of that. Besides, he'd need to be quieted if he didn't want any attention drawn his way.

"I am going to ensure that this lesson sinks in, and unless you want anyone to hear you and take notice, I suggest you try to stay as silent as you can." Though they were incredibly high up, that didn't mean that someone in any of the buildings or even down below wouldn't be able to hear if there was a loud enough sound made; or at least she knew that's what he'd believe. Why not use that thought against him too.

The other tentacle took the camera from her hands after she put it on the proper setting and set it to record, so that it could get the angles Infinita wanted. That being that she was out of the picture; and all of Spider-Man's embarrassed, and almost entirely naked form could be seen. The last black tendril found its way behind the geeky young man and swayed gently back and forth as it awaited for its owner to signal it. Though for what, Peter dreaded the answer…

"Hmm… You know, I think the reason that you behave the way you do is simply because no one ever punished you in a way that would make you think twice before being a cruel little idiot. Yes, you may have been bullied, but you were never given a good beating or had any disciplinary form of pain inflicted upon you… and quite frankly, I think it's time you learned that your actions DO have repercussions, _**Petey**_."

Before he finished processing what she had just said, his eyes closed tightly as he hissed at the sharp pain he felt across his backside, caused by the tentacle behind him which came down to strike his left cheek harshly!

' _Did she just… SPANK me?!'_ Peter thought in bewilderment and slight indignation; the whole of what the woman had just said, done and fully intended to do becoming clearer by the second in his venom addled mind.

And again the tendril struck a blow; this time the discomfort was felt across his entire bottom, though little did he know it was merely due to her having formed the tendril into a paddle.

At first, he thought he could withstand such a seemingly stupid and what he'd always thought to be an ineffective form of punishment… but as that paddle continued its merciless **ass** ault (pun intended), he found his eyes welling up with tears and his efforts to keep from crying out in agony to become harder with each strike Infinita dealt him!

In his mind, it seemed to go on for hours! And what was even worse was that the wicked woman made sure to keep changing the rhythm so that he couldn't try to adapt to it to make it bearable! His bum grew sorer as he began to scream and cry into the sleek black goop that muffled him.

Throughout this some of this time, over the stifled sounds he made, he could hear her humming some tune! Yep, that's right! Infinita was HUMMING some happy freakin' tune while spanking Spider-Man! His face burned with anger and humiliation at just how nonchalant the woman was being; the tendril in charge of the camera moving around to capture different views of his suffering.

Then, to his further horror, since things only seemed to be getting worse for him… he heard her singing in that voice only someone possessing a symbiote could have; though it sounded more like the sentient goop was the dominate voice than it's host.

It's tone was a cross between sinister delight and embitterment; though it wasn't as bad as it was when Eddie was the host… Peter managed to wonder for a moment why that was before the spanking changed rhythm to match the words. Each word earning him a good smack!

" _ **Your not an innocent**_

_**Just a helpless twit in a spider's web.** _

_**You think** _

_**We're just a Symbiont** _

_**Going after anything that we can get!** _

_**So you better turn your head and run** _

_**And don't look back** _

_**Cause we fear** _

_**There is nothing left to say** _

_**To you** _

_**That you wanna hear** _

_**That you wanna know** _

_**And soon we'll go** _

_**The things you've done are way to shameful** _

_**Because you've done us so wrong** _

_**Treated us bad** _

_**Strung us along** _

_**Oh shame on yourself** _

_**We don't know how you got so tangled."** _

It was so very priceless really… she'd gotten rather bored of hearing his muffled sounds of distress and discomfort, so Rose decided that since she was already letting the symbiote give the Parker boy a good paddling, that she may as well try to cure her boredom with that little ditty she'd revised especially for the occasion; though why that particular song came to mind, the physician wasn't sure… Still pretty fun though, that much was definite.

Rose decided that it was time to reign in this little trauma session and retracted the tentacles and the camera along with them; much to the pouting disappointment of her gooey companion. Then, the woman regarded him for a moment before pulling out a large black permanent marker. She drew a big smiley face with the tongue sticking out on his torso.

And underneath of it, she wrote _**"Pwn'd by Infinita the Anti-Hero, for being a bad Spidey!"**_ To which she gave a laugh before putting the marker away and clapping her hands together cheerily! Yes, this would suffice!

"Okay, well, the good news is that we are too high up for you to actually get embarrassed by anyone taking pictures or anything, AND the toxin should wear off soon!" She stood up on her web; and to anyone looking up she would be horizontal since the web was placed vertically, though at a slight incline; which was still quite a physical feat to see someone do.

"The bad news…" She continued as she stretched nonchalantly, looking back at him; grinning in amusement.

"Is that I've no idea which will wear off first! My webbing; which I designed to deteriorate and currently is as we speak, or the toxin that is keeping you immobilized… But hey! I guess you'll find out soon enough! Tootles!" And with a wave she was gone! She had teleported away before he could so much as realize the situation he was now stuck in!

Peter didn't know what the heck to think anymore at the moment. He was paralyzed, his rear end stung so much that he was fairly sure he'd never be able to sit ever again, his mind was kind of hazy and swirling with a torrent of emotions, and he felt completely humiliated and traumatized by all of this!

He had no idea what he was going to do as he began to feel the aforementioned effects of the web starting to give way and was still unable to move!

As he heard the telltale sounds of the webbing, that was keeping him from falling so many stories to the ground and ending up as a Spidey Pancake, begin to snap and tear, he tried to think of some way to escape and live!

But his mind was way too addled, frantic and foggy to notice anything or even think of anything; except lame panicking thoughts like

' _Aw come on! I'm still a virgin for crying out loud! I can't go like this!'_ **(A/N: That's right! Lmfao I thought it'd be funnier this way. I mean yeah I could see MJ kissing or making out with Peter just to keep him interested so she could string him along, but quite frankly I don't think she'd give it up like she does to the guys with cars and money. I don't care if he IS Spider-Man, unless he's loaded like Harry or freakin' Bruce Wayne, you know she ain't so much as showing her granny panties to him. XD HAH Anyone suddenly reminded of Lois Lane?! Kuwahahahah!)**

Peter finally heard a strangely familiar sound and yet it was just barely audible, but he couldn't move his head in the direction it was coming from! Just then, the webbing gave way and he began to fall!

Is this the end of Spider-Man as we know it?! Is this how the hero is to meet his end? Well, even he had no idea as a scent he recognized but couldn't place, reached his nose. He felt the brief sensation of falling as everything went black…!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, when Rose kicked him in his "Spider-Senses" she meant she kicked him in the balls. Lmfao. Hope that clears up things for those who didn't get the joke. I understand that not everyone has as warped a mind as me, and that's okay, you'll be corrupted subliminally and slowly through this story! Kuwahahahahahahahahahah! Er... I mean... LOOK PUDDING! Also, I think some of ya'll out there want me to mutilate Peter or something LOL but he's my source of entertainment, so I can't do that... BUT, I can and shall be inflicting an even worse types of horrors upon him. X3 So, no worries.
> 
> The song that I let the Symbiote sing tauntingly is a few lines from "Tangled" by Maroon 5, but I changed the lyrics around because I thought it was funny and since Rose was bored she thought she'd help the symbiote have some fun with their humiliating of Peter. XD Also, I was in a lyrical mood!
> 
> Now, most people probably don't think spanking is a very good method of tormenting someone. Well, it IS so long as you know who to use it on and HOW. It can be used in a kinky/sexual way or as a means to fracture or even break the psyche of one's enemy/foe; to humiliate and instill fear and all those fun things! But with Infinita, it's all about the psychological trauma, not so much the physical. She knows from personal experience that mental and emotional damaging lasts MUCH longer than physical, and in fact may never heal. Lmfao. And yes, I know I'm really insane or demented or whatever for doing this, but no one ever said "punishing" or "torturing" was pretty… though I found it pretty fun! Kuwahahahahahah!
> 
> You kinda gotta think what Peter is going through (not that anyone cares XD). There he was, out for his usual routine of whatever and then WHAM! He is suddenly at the mercy of some unpredictable anti-hero; who is wearing the symbiotic alien being that wants to do terrible things to him, and now he is paralyzed and restrained and totally screwed! (in the bad way LOL) Then she lets Venom (LOL I always see the symbiote as a separate entity and always called it Venom XD) taunt him with a funny little song that it's host knows and revised for it. To someone like Peter with all the mental stability and psychological tolerance of a soap bubble, I don't care how "heroic" or whatever he is in the comics, in the movie he is obviously a pretty easy person to manipulate and break or damage if done correctly. But, this is all merely MY opinion, Lmfao so take it however you like. XD


	14. Leggo My Eggo!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rose meets an old acquaintance and makes waffles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this chapter is sort of "mysterious" or rather it is supposed to be for comical purposes (at least in my mind), so yeah. I'm introducing a potential new tormentor for Spidey! Awwww yeah! Lmfao, so he'll be bound to end up getting more traumatized as this thing goes on. Can't break him just yet, as the story is still young! Kuwahahahahahahahah!

From atop a building right above the scene she had previously been apart of, Infinita watched all the many entertaining terror filled moments that Spider-Man seemed to be going through. Both her and the symbiote found it pretty funny, and though she was trying very hard to keep quiet, she could hear the creature cackling maniacally in her mind.

' _Oh we ARE pleased with this! He looks so much like a fly caught in a web than a hero!… Too bad we couldn't have treated him as such…'_ Rose snorted quietly, trying so hard to keep from laughing that it was starting to make her visibly shake with mirth. It was a good thing she was in camouflage mode, so perhaps not as visible as most would have assumed.

' _You mean, inject him with a digestive compound so as to turn him into a Spidey Smoothie then maybe stick a straw in him and have at?'_ The symbiote was silent for a second before replying in a pouty way; much like a child. **(A/N: Spidey Smoothie! Apart of a nutritious balanced breakfast!)**

' _Well… Yeah… How else do we expect a spider to eat a fly?'_ Rose smirked and shook her head. _'Sorry, I'd much prefer a waffle to Spider Soup… Speaking of which… I'm starting to get hungry… You know, ever since you came along I do think I eat more.'_ She mused inside her mind. Rose could feel the symbiote agree.

' _It takes energy to regenerate that of the host which we consume.'_ Those silvery white eyes never left the little show that Parker was putting on; their head titled slightly to the side _._

' _Seriously, this is the version of Survivor they should be showing on TV. Not those losers who just try to hump and betray each other.'_ Rose mused more to herself than her companion, before continuing her previous conversation about their eating habits.

' _Ah, you mean the chemical Phenethylamine. Yes, I have come to learn that is what your kind must consume in order to maintain mental stability and such; just like humans do. Funny how it is also found in small amounts in chocolate and also sold in pill form too as a way to try and treat or manage certain conditions involving mood disorders and the like… Darn it! Now I have a taste for something with chocolate! BINGO! Eggos with Chocolate Milk! Perfect!'_ She decided on; smirking triumphantly.

It wasn't like Spider-Man would have been able to see them anyways since she had blended in and become invisible; much like she had done to the webbing, so the webhead was unable to see it earlier when he swung into it.

However, her moment of happy thoughts about what she was going to have for dinner or was it breakfast? were put on hold as someone new entered the scene! It was someone using a cloaking device, but she _knew_ someone was there! Infinita could feel, hear, and smell it with her enhanced senses. And the strangest part was, Rose had a good idea who it was! It must have been the same one from earlier she felt was watching them…

She could just barely make out a blurred silhouette as it moved around Spider-Man; who was so caught up in his own thoughts and emotions that he didn't even seem to notice anything beyond his panic attack!

' _Hmm, I wonder if his Spider-Sense went off or not… could it be a side-effect of the toxin… or something more interesting?'_

The person began severing the strands of webbing and just as Spider-Man began to fall, it sprayed something gas like at him which must have knocked him out; seeing as the young hero's body went instantly limp as it does when one passes out. It was just a slight variation from one being paralyzed; but it was very subtle. It then proceeded to envelope him in it's cloaking device so that he could no longer be seen before it took off!

Curiously, she followed while still in her own natural cloaking form. But instead of web-slinging, she changed between teleporting and stealthily leaping from roof top to roof top, until they reached a crappy looking apartment building. Infinita recognized it to be the one that Peter Parker lived in, thanks to what the symbiote had shared. Both of whom raised a curious brow.

' _We know who this is, we can feel it… But, why do we not share it?'_ The symbiote asked in a slightly hurt tone and a confused frown.

' _I'll tell you later… Right now let's just see what happens…'_ The symbiote gave a pouty little huff, but agreed as they peered over the roof top down at the mysterious abductor.

Said person was opening Peter's window and going inside! They covertly crept down just far enough, so that they could watch as the transparent figure placed Peter gently onto the bed and pulled the covers over him.

The edge of Spider-Man's mask raised a tad, as if the person was about to remove it, but then it fell, as if whoever it was decided against it. The person then looked around and took a piece of paper from off of Peter's desk before taking out a pen and writing something down that they could not see. It folded the parchment neatly and taped it to Peter's chest; right over his heart. It seemed to be a good day for sticking notes on Spidey, Rose thought with a smirk.

The figure gave that spot a little pat before turning to leave. Infinita made quick work of teleporting down to the ground as she gazed up to see, or rather not see as it were, the figure exiting the window and getting back onto what ever device that was making that faint sound she could hear; closing the window and taking off again!

With that settled, she decided it was time to head home and was gone in an instant. She appeared back in her bathroom where she proceeded to get cleaned up before cooking. When she was done she went into the kitchen, dressed in some comfy clothing the symbiote was always happy to provide, and went about toasting herself some strawberry Eggo Waffles and making some chocolate milk.

Then she suddenly raised an eyebrow and went to her door and opened it to see a tall figure with his hand in the air; getting ready to knock. She could see the man smile; he seemed rather impressed and pleasantly surprised.

"Ah, same old Rose, I see. Always seems to know whose coming before they do!" He quipped playfully as she moved aside to let him enter.

"Would you expect anything less?" Rose replied coolly, as the man took a seat on one of the wooden stools at her kitchen counter where she ate most of her meals.

"If I did, I certainly wouldn't be here." The man stated in a similar tone; straightening his black tie aloofly as he eyed his surroundings in a way that you just _knew_ meant you were being judged.

"But still… I would think you'd have chosen to live in a nicer place by now. It's not like you don't have the money or means." Rose went to the refrigerator to start setting up for her dinner.

"I enjoy simple living as it has many advantages. It's not like I'm here all that often anyway. Can I get you anything to drink?" He shook his head, seeming amused. "No thank you. Strictly business, so I can't stay long." She gave an understanding nod and took a seat across from him after finishing her quick meal setup.

"Very well, what can I do for you this time?" Her tone was calm, cool and business like. It was almost as if she switched modes or something, but in her life she had to. There was, as they say, a time and place for everything.

"Well, there are some things I need…" At this Rose smirked and ran a hand through her sleek, feathery hair.

"Oh, I know what you _need_ , then again what person who knows you doesn't… So, the question really is, what do you _want_?" **(A/N: Btw people, she didn't mean this in a pervy, sexual or flirty way. It was actually meant as a playful insult.)**

His grin widened as he slide his hand into the inside of his jacket pocket, to procure a folded piece of parchment to hand to her. She took it and unfolded it. It was a list with a detailed sketch beside each of the items; for her to better understand what it was that he was after. Though, funny enough she had a pretty good idea of what they could be used for, even if she was in no hurry to voice this.

"I want you to retrieve these for me. It will make my plans go along much smoother."

She eyed the list thoughtfully. Rose knew in order to get these things, it might have some ramifications. But then again, this guy was in a way a friend and faithful client of sorts. Hmm, she could think of many ways in which this might blow up in her face, but she had promised to help this man a long time ago. And unlike most people, her word was her bond...

"Consider it done." Her voice was just as smooth as ever. She'd made her bed when she first met him, so she chose to lie in it peacefully; deciding what was done was done.

This was exactly what he wanted to hear as he grinned toothily at her.

"Ah, dependable as always!" At this remark she held up a finger and impishly wagged it at him.

"Not so fast there Sea Biscuit. There's still a price to be paid. Just because I don't accept money, doesn't mean you're off the hook." And as if on cue, her Eggos popped up.

The man's grin turned into a very dark yet pleased smirk; equivalent exchange was almost always the name of the game between these two, and he wouldn't have it any other way.

"Of course there is. Though knowing you, I'm almost scared to ask what that might be." He said in a teasing tone of mock fright. She tucked the paper into her pocket before putting her waffles on a plate to begin buttering them.

When she finished with one he quickly snatched it and watched her eyes narrow hatefully as he took a showy bite out of it. It wasn't so much that he wanted the waffle; he could have gotten anything to eat, but they had developed this oddly comical yet potentially deadly camaraderie over the time they'd come to know each other.

It was obvious to see, they liked trying to mess with the other's head. Rose sometimes wondered which was more dangerous to play with; Tabitha, the man sitting across from her, or a water balloon filled with unstable nitroglycerin…?

The dark haired physician finished buttering her other waffle; guarding it rather closely now as he tried not to laugh.

"Right then…" And with that they began to discuss what her payment would be and the rest of the details for the plan. He then stood and smoothed his clothes before he strolled over to the door.

"Lovely as always to see you."

He had just set his hand on the doorknob; thinking their business was done, when he heard her speaking to him.

"Why'd you do it?" The question was filled with curiosity but the tone was calm with slight amusement; as if she already knew the answer and asked merely to pester him… which worked.

The man froze before turning around to see her sitting with her back against the counter; her arms crossed over her chest. She could see the shock on his face quickly turn back to that mildly impressed smirk; having usually found her knowing ways to be an admirable trait.

"Ah, so that _was_ you there after all… I thought so… It seemed your style."

She smirked back. "Oh please, you know nothing of my _style_."

"I know enough…"

Rose shook her head.

"Yes, but you are avoiding the question." His smile faltered and in that millisecond she saw a glimpse of the man she _knew_ was really behind the mask, and her smile widened.

"Did you not trust that I'd keep my word? Or were you just too _worried_ to care if I did?"

His eye twitched and his fists clenched but he did not answer; too bad that was the tell she was looking for.

"Oh, so it _was_! Heh, I thought so… I've known since you had me make such a promise." At this he took a threatening step toward her; eyes narrowing dangerously, but she remained unfazed and composed.

"Now, now _little flower_ , it would really behoove you not to be a thorn in my side!" He said in a low, lethal tone.

"And it would _behoove_ you _Sir_ , to remember that I promised not to kill the pest. I never said annnything about tormenting. Besides, I've no further reason to bother him now besides the occasional harmless prank when I'm bored, so do what you will." She retorted right back through her ever darkening smirk; as if daring him to try something. The symbiont writhed in aggravation at the tense atmosphere and audacity of this stupid male meat sack; causing Rose's clothing to ruffle as if caught in a strong wind.

The man noticed this and paused; regarding her for a moment and then he straightened up as his previous demeanor returned.

"Good to know…" He all but spat in as composed a tone as he could manage at the moment.

Rose chortled mischievously.

"Now that that's out of the way… Did you enjoy the show?" His eyes narrowed again, but there was a similar twisted amusement in them that Rose's held at the mention of Spider-Man's spanking.

"As entertaining as that was, I'd prefer if you wouldn't ever touch the little spider like that again." The woman gave a curt nod; knowing he was serious, despite his having enjoyed it… but she knew why.

"That's fine. I don't mind. Can't say I'm very fond of touching him anyway."

The strange man shook his head and grinned as he opened the door. He was about to leave when he stopped to peer at her from the half open door.

"Oh, and Rose?"

She raised a curious brow. And in a voice that was rather different from his usual business one; one that was more mischievous yet dangerously maniac, he said.

" _Love_ _the new suit_."

And with a fleeting glimpse of those gleefully mad eyes, he closed the door; leaving her alone at last.

"Heh, you too." The young physician quipped coolly as she shook her head and rolled her eyes; getting up and popping two more waffles into the toaster.

' _What… just happened?'_ The symbiote questioned and she could feel it tingling with curiosity.

Rose sighed and closed her eyes for a moment long enough for her to free up the relevant memories for the symbiote to see. Then she went back to eating her waffles happily as she waited for her little sentient comrade to see and process everything.

When she was done, Rose went and readied herself for bed; though she could wait for the Symbiont to change her clothes, as she climbed under the covers. Rose decided that she would hold off on sleep until the other was ready.

So, she reached over and pulled out her laptop from the drawer in her bedside table, and opened it up to do a little work on some medical junk that wouldn't need to be handed in for at least a month or two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY! I know, everyone's all sad that I didn't kill off Spidey right? Lmfao well it wouldn't be much fun if I killed off my source of entertainment now would it? And yeah I know, Rose says she's gonna start laying off of Petey BUT she WILL mess with him every now and then like she said. Besides, if I don't have her take a break from smacking him around then when will Black Cat get her turn? XD See? Makes sense now, huh? 
> 
> So, for all of you who have figured out exactly who the "mystery" guy is, please PLEASE keep it to yourselves so that no one gets the story spoiled Lmfao. Well, whoever reads the reviews for it anyways. XD I mean, I didn't exactly make it that hard to figure out who this guy is anyways. Pretty obvious who he is (to me thus far anyways). 
> 
> XD and for those wondering "WTF IS WRITTEN IN THAT NOTE?!" well, that is for another time (and seperate fanfic that I have yet to post XD), so I apologize but the contents of it won't be revealed until I get to working some more on that other thing of mine and put it up on here. LoL


	15. Blame the Drugs & Lean on Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Harry has some issues and texts Rose. Cuteness ensues!

As silence fell and she remembered to do so, Rose decided to check her cell phone to see if anyone had called or left her a message. And, there was one. It was a text message from Harry! She knew it was him simply because Bernard had made sure Rose had their contact information and the name that popped up was his. Her eyes widened slightly as she opened it up to read; wondering if something was wrong, but she couldn't help the smile that played on her lips as her eyes scanned over the little black text.

"Sender: Harry : _Hi Rose… I'm REALLY sorry about earlier. I hope you didn't misunderstand what I meant? -Harry._

End Message."

Since no one else was around, Rose didn't bother to stifle her giggling. Despite what the symbiote showed him of being capable of, she found that he could still be so sweet that it made her laugh… though not in a mean way, she just thought it was cute was all. It wasn't that often that she met a guy with that kind of innocence about him.

The black haired woman decided that she should probably reply to his message. It hadn't been sent to her very long ago, so Rose found herself wondering if Harry would still be awake and was a little worried if she accidentally woke him by sending a reply… her finger froze on the send button after she typed the message, but then gave a shrug and pressed it; figuring she had better do it before she forgot because THEN she'd feel kind of bad about it.

Harry gave a little start and blinked; quite taken aback when his phone vibrated on the little table beside his bed and making that loud buzzing sound like someone just threw an angry beehive at you. He hadn't really been doing anything; pretty much just sitting in the dim light his bedside lamp and television gave off, and worrying about whether or not Rose wasn't replying because she was mad at him or something.

Little did he realize that she had been laughing and harmlessly playing with him; since he'd been too distraught over what had happened and being all embarrassed. He pondered for a moment who it could be, though he hoped it was Rose… and to his surprise, it was! His fingers quickly moved over the buttons so that he could read what she'd sent.

"Sender: Rose Aconitum/Pretty : _Hello to you too, Harry. And no, don't fret. I knew what you meant, I was merely teasing you. Hope you don't mind, I suppose my humor can be a bit odd to others, but I mean well.-Rose._

End Message."

His eyes scanned over the message once more and he smiled; feeling relieved that she had only been playing. He was rather happy about her having done so, because it meant that she must have liked him enough to joke. At least Harry hoped that's what it meant anyway, as he started typing.

"Sender: Harry : _No, it's okay. I guess I was too tired to realize you were just kidding around LoL. So what are you up to? If you don't mind me asking.-Harry._

End Message."

Rose had turned her attention back to her laptop to continue her work, when she heard her phone buzz again. She read the message and smiled a little and shook her head; knowing full well exactly what type of medication and the effects it would and wouldn't have on him. He'd simply been embarrassed and didn't catch the way in which she'd said what she had; simple misunderstanding really, but still rather funny.

"Sender: Rose Aconitum/Pretty : _I don't mind, Harry. I'm just doing a little work on my laptop, nothing very interesting I'm afraid. How about you? Last I knew, you were supposed to be asleep. You're not having any trouble sleeping are you? -Rose._

End Message."

' _Aww! She's worried about me!'_ Harry grinned goofily to himself as he enjoyed his little joke; he figured she was asking for medical reasons, but the fact that she asked showed Rose cared enough to at least do so.

And that brightened his sore, drug addled mood. Thankfully, he was feeling a little less groggy and a little better since he'd woken up last so he decided to tell her about that. But he didn't want her knowing that he'd just been sitting in the semi-darkness fretting over the little incident before she had left.

Rose might think he was lame, and he didn't like the thought of that very much. That's when he realized he still had the television on; the volume was low because he couldn't take the creepy silence of the mansion anymore. So, he decided that part of his next message wasn't technically a lie… he was _sort_ of watching it…

"Sender: Harry : _I'm fine Doc. Just woke up a while ago and have been watching TV. I am feeling a little better. I even managed to sit up by myself! :D-Harry._

End Message."

Rose gave a little laugh at his smiley face. The son of the Green Goblin sent her a text with a smiley face in it… If that wasn't funny, she didn't know what was. The dark haired phyisican was glad to hear he felt a little better though. And Rose felt a little bad that she couldn't have used her powers to heal him quicker.

The young man was only alive because she had used her own healing abilities to speed up his own healing factor and repair the massive internal damage. But, due to the circumstances being what they were, she didn't want to risk the truth about her being a mutant to get out. It was risky enough doing what she had done for him already!

Rose didn't even know if she could trust Harry with such information and thought it best to leave well enough alone. After all, once he was better he wouldn't need her around anymore… Hmm, she wasn't sure why, but that thought made her feel rather sad. Why should she care if he didn't need her anymore? If they never saw each other again? That was how her job worked. Doctor heals/helps patient, patient goes home, the end. Nothing to feel sad or anything about, right? She frowned as she looked down at the cellular device in her hand.

"Sender: Rose Aconitum/Pretty : _That's good. Just be careful not to strain or hurt yourself. If you do, contact me immediately.-Rose._

End Message."

Harry yawned before he read the message. He was starting to feel sleepy again, but he didn't want to stop their little conversation just yet… The brunette wasn't sure why, he just found that it cheered him up. He sent his message before rubbing his sleepy eyes; wincing a little as he did his best to delicately touch the wounded one.

At having touched said location, his mind was brought back to the fact that part of his face was scarred and he couldn't even see out of that one eye. Harry wondered if the sight of his disfigured face ever bothered her?

Did she find him disgusting and pathetic to look at? Harry frowned sadly. No… Rose didn't strike him as that sort of person. If he was that horrible to look at, she never would have given him a sponge bath; much less touched him at all!… Right…?

Harry scowled down at his own reflection on the screen of the phone. Why did Pete have to throw that bomb at him and scar him like this? Now he was fretting over whether or not it bothered his pretty doctor…

' _Wait… "My" pretty doctor…? Since when did I start thinking of her like that? Ugh… I need to ask her if she can lower the dosage on whatever the heck they're pumping into my veins. Its obviously making me screwier than normal.'_ Harry gave himself a mental shake and sighed; leaning back against his pillows. What was wrong with him?

"Sender: Harry : _Okay, I will. So what time are you coming over tomorrow?-Harry._

End Message."

Those skilled yet pale, slender fingers paused over the keys of the laptop upon the telltale buzzing of another text. _'Hmm, why would he ask me that?'_ Rose blinked at the curious message, but figured that it was him trying to nicely ask her to change the time she was supposed to arrive.

"Sender: Rose Aconitum/Pretty : _Should be the same time as yesterday. Why? Do you need me to show up at a different time instead? It's alright if you do. Just let me know.-Rose._

End Message."

The bedridden young man frowned. Should he ask her to arrive earlier than last time? If he did then they could spend more time together, if he didn't end up napping for most of the day again… he was still a little peeved about that. But he knew he needed the rest or else he wouldn't heal.

"Sender: Harry : _No, that's fine. I was just checking. -Harry._

End Message."

Rose read the short message and glanced at the clock on her laptop again. It was getting pretty late and if either of them were going to be awake tomorrow, they'd both need to rest; Harry especially.

She didn't want him wearing himself out and missing hours precious sleep just to carry on a text conversation with her. He was her responsibility and Rose had to make sure his wellbeing came first before his whims.

"Sender: Rose Aconitum/Pretty : _Very well then. If you're feeling tired Harry, you should sleep you know. Rest is important. And don't worry, if you are asleep when I get there then I will still be there when you wake up.-Rose._

End Message."

' _Okay… I know she said she wasn't psychic… but she's starting to freak me out how she seems to just KNOW this stuff!'_ Harry thought to himself with a shake of his head. He sighed and frowned a little; she was right though, he did need sleep. The brunette could feel that oh so familiar tiredness tugging at his eyelids even as he tried to think of a reply to her message.

"Sender: Harry : _Well, you are the Doctor._ _J You're going to sleep too, right? Can't have you noddin' off on me while you change my bandages or something. XP-Harry._

End Message."

Rose quirked a brow at his message. She was pretty sure he just wanted to see if she was going to sleep when he did. "How curious…" The physician murmured to herself quietly. Indeed she was rather tired, but she wanted to wait for the symbiote to finish up it's little memory viewing before going to sleep. It only seemed polite.

"Sender: Rose Aconitum/Pretty : _I'll go to sleep soon. I have to finish up my work. Don't worry though, I'll be fine. Now go to bed. -Rose._

End Message."

Harry scowled again and gave a childish little huff. So Rose wanted him to go to bed while she stayed up? That didn't seem very fair. Why couldn't he talk to her until she went to sleep?

For some odd reason, he wanted the knowledge that she would be asleep when he was… it was silly, he knew that, but that still didn't stop the fact that he knew she would still be awake when he wasn't. It was just like all those times he'd fallen asleep on her earlier that day. It just didn't settle right with him.

"Sender: Harry : _That's okay Rose. I can stay up a little while longer. So what are you working on? -Harry._

End Message."

Rose's eye gave a twitch when she heard the buzz again. She thought that maybe he was saying goodnight or something along those lines, not the message he HAD sent. "Seriously…? What is he trying to do, play sleep chicken?" Rose sighed and typed a quick response.

"Sender: Rose Aconitum/Pretty : _Nothing of interest nor importance to you. Just very boring paperwork. Now go to bed.-Rose._

End Message."

Ohhh, so she was gonna play it like that huh? Hmph! He could play too! Pressing the send button he grinned; rather satisfied with his little message.

"Sender: Harry : _I'm already in bed. :P -Harry._

End Message."

"What is he, three years old?" Rose rolled her eyes as she typed. She was glad she'd finished up her work a few minutes ago, for now her new task was trying to make her patient go to sleep.

"Sender: Rose Aconitum/Pretty : _Then go to sleep. -Rose._

End Message."

Harry smirked at her message. "I'm not going down that easy missy! Take that!"

"Sender: Harry : _I don't feel like it. I want to stay up. -Harry._

End Message."

Rose facepalmed as she read the message. Whatever happened to him being all nice and relatively compliant? "Maybe he's just like that when I'm there in person…? Hmm, either that or I've been too nice."

"Sender: Rose Aconitum/Pretty : _Harry, I'll be going to bed soon. What's so bad about going to sleep a little before I do?-Rose._

End Message."

Harry's smug smirk fell and became rather saddened; he wasn't sure why… perhaps a mixture of tiredness and the slight mood swings, that tended to come with it when one refused to comply with their sleepiness, combined with the medication?

He didn't think it was entirely that though. Was she just trying to get him to sleep because she was tired of dealing with him? _'Why not? It's not like anyone else really ever liked to…'_ Harry sighed and began to type.

"Sender: Harry : _I don't know… Why do you want me to go to sleep so badly?-Harry._

End Message."

Rose's brow furrowed as she paused to read and re-read his message a few times. There was something in his words that gave her the impression that he was… upset? She scowled and heaved a long sigh. "I can see I'll have to try a different approach…"

The dark haired female closed his text and scrolled down until she found what she was looking for and pressed a button… Now, she just had to wait.

 _Ring… Ring… Rin-_ "H-hello?" Harry answered his cell phone; quite taken aback by its sudden ringing, to the point that he almost dropped it because he had instead expected her to send a text message confirming his woes.

" _Hi Harry. Is everything okay?"_ Came Rose's concerned voice from the other end. He had to keep himself from blurting out all of everything that had been running through his mind, and instead tried to sort out what he wanted to tell her.

"I guess so… Just a little tired. I think the medicine is still making me all weird." He wanted to smack himself, but knew it would hurt and he'd make a sound and worry her further.

" _Hmm, you can blame the drugs all you want, but we both know something is bothering you. If you don't want to talk about it with me, I understand. My only concern is your wellbeing Harry. Both mental and physical."_ The physician meant every word she said, and she hoped that her tone conveyed that.

"Do… you really mean that?" Harry found himself asking before he could think. He knew that she was being paid to take care of him, but it was her tone that made him ask. The sincerity in her voice dumbfounded him; then again since it was something that was rarely ever shown to him, it usually did.

" _Of course. If you don't believe my words, ask me again when we're face to face tomorrow and judge by what you see."_ She wasn't offended or anything, she knew it was hard for most to understand and convey tones and meanings properly over the phone. Just one of those disadvantages to technology the woman supposed.

"N-no, that's okay. Just checking…" There was a small pause as Harry muddled this over and Rose waited patiently. Then Rose asked him a question that he couldn't ever remember anyone having ever asked him…

" _Harry?"_

"Yeah?"

" _Are you lonely?"_

His eyes widened at the tentative and soft tone she used; almost as if she could understand it if he was…

"Well… Yeah, I mean… everyone is lonely sometimes…" He trailed off with a shrug no one could see; trying to sound like it was no big deal and that he didn't know what she meant; while his brain screamed at him that it was in fact a HUGE deal, at least to him, and that he DID know precisely what she'd asked.

" _No Harry… I mean, right NOW, are you lonely?"_ Her question was met with silence, but she decided to continue on anyway. _"Bernard told me you live there by yourself. I know he probably lives somewhere there too, but I'm guessing it still gets pretty lonesome, huh?"_

Harry fiddled with the soft material of one of the blankets covering his lap; his fingers curling and clenching around fabric at the last part of his sentence. "Its not… so bad… Why are you even asking me that?" Harry asked that last part a bit defensively and he knew that it wasn't really called for; but he was starting to wonder if she was saying all of this to mock him or something.

Exactly what was she trying to say?! That no matter how lovely everyone thought his mansion was, to him it was just a gigantic reminder of the fact that both his parents were dead? That it seemed more like their mausoleum than a home?! Or that despite all of his wealth, he hadn't a friend he could rely on and instead found his pathetic self carrying on a conversation with his doctor…?

" _Mostly just to confirm what I'd already gathered."_ He knew it! Damn it… so she was mocking him after all? Harry then noticed that she began speaking again. _"But also to let you know that it's okay."_ He blinked; very confused.

"Wait… what?"

" _I said, it's okay."_ Rose repeated just as kindly and calmly.

"What's okay?" Harry didn't quite follow.

" _To want to reach out when you feel alone. That's what you were doing, right? You woke up to find you were the only one still awake and you decided to send me a message so that someone else could be awake with you. When I replied and you knew I would still be awake when I suggested you get some rest, you didn't want to go back to sleep. I'm guessing you didn't like the fact that I would go to bed at a different time than you were because you were afraid you'd end up in the same predicament as you were before we started our conversation. How am I so far?"_

Harry blinked again as she spoke smoothly and genially. When she waited for his response, she was met with a long pause as he thought about it; but she gave no sign of impatience that he could hear.

"Geez…" He managed almost breathlessly and rather miserably at last, as he stared down at the sheets of his bed, but not really seeing them; too caught up in her words and his own thoughts. "Am I really _that_ pathetic…?"

His ear was met with what he thought was quite a mellow chuckle. _"I already said it was okay didn't I? Never thought I'd repeat myself so much and not mind… But no Harry, you're not pathetic. You're just feeling rather forlorn. It happens. Once you're well enough to leave your house, I bet you'll go back to spending time with those two friends of yours, huh?"_

Harry frowned again. "I doubt it…" He muttered angrily; more to himself than Rose.

" _Why do you doubt that?"_

"They never had any time for me before! Why would they start bothering now?" He couldn't believe he was actually talking about this with someone! Good grief, what was wrong with him? The young man had always kept all of his feelings and thoughts bottled up before! Why would one sillylittle doctor make that any different?

' _She asked didn't she?'_ Came a little voice from the corner of his mind. Oh great… just what he needed! Another voice in his head! Weren't the hallucinations that he tended to have of his insane, dead father enough? Now he heard one that sounded like his own too? Ugh… what the hell was in that medicine? Did he get a bad batch or something?

" _Harry? Are you still there?"_ Ah crap… he'd zoned out on her! "Yeah, sorry… I was just thinking. What did you say?" He apologetically asked. Thankfully, she didn't seem upset again and continued on as if nothing happened; though she seemed glad he was okay.

" _I was saying that, if they suck that much as friends, then why don't you just try to make ones that don't?"_

"Sound plan in theory Doc, but in practice it is a lot harder than you think. Everyone just wants my money." He scoffed; a bitter smile forming on his face as he practically spat the word "money" with all the venom he could muster in his groggy state.

" _Hmm, I see your problem… 'Tis understandable though. I've made a lot of friends who only wanted to use me for some reason or another."_ He quirked an eyebrow as he heard this. Harry would've figured that someone nice and no disfigured like Rose would have no trouble making friends and probably had tons!

"Oh yeah? What'd you do about it?" Harry asked; trying to hide the hope in his tone, but she heard it anyway. It wouldn't stop her from answering honestly though, he had to know the truth.

" _Nothing I could do. I just kept trying to find someone who didn't. Managed to find a small few who've earned my trust. You shouldn't fret so much about it Harry. You'll find someone or someone's you can count on. Just be cautious and patient is all."_

"Gee, _thanks,_ Doc…" Harry said in a dispirited tone as his shoulders slumped. And he was met with another laugh; at least the sound of her mirth perked him up a bit. It sounded nice and he liked being the reason for that sound.

" _Well, if it makes you feel any better, lean on me for a while."_

"Huh? What do you mean?" Harry frowned. Was she saying what he thought she was saying…?

" _Heh, no offense but you can be really slow when you're sleep deprived. This is why you should be sleeping now… But, I digress. Lean on me… you know… if you feel lonely again. I'm just a phone call or text away. If you really need someone around, and if I can, I'll even come over; no extra charge!"_ Rose said teasingly as she chuckled and Harry found a smile spreading across his face as he thought about it.

"Really? You'd do that?" He blurted out again in a tone where she could hear the smile in his voice. **(A/N: Fun fact! You can actually hear the smile in another persons voice.)**

" _Just said I would, and yes."_ She paused as if thinking over something and then told him in a firm yet good natured tone. _"But not tonight. It's very late and you need to get to sleep Harry. Okay?"_

"Yeah, okay." Harry managed a small laugh; finally feeling his good mood coming back.

" _Good!"_ This tone was said with a smile, but the question after it held that concern he'd heard when he first answered the phone. _"So, are you feeling better now?"_

He chortled a little. "Yep. Much!" Harry suddenly yawned and held the phone away before returning it to his ear. "Sorry… Guess I'm sleepier than I thought… Well, I better get some shuteye. Goodnight Rose."

" _Goodnight Harry."_ Rose felt she should wait for him to hang up since it was only polite.

"Oh, and Rose?"

" _Yes Harry?"_

"Thanks…"

" _Heh, you're stalling."_

"Am not!" He said childishly and she could hear the mock pout. It made her laugh.

" _Are too!"_ She countered just as immaturely.

It was Harry's turn to laugh and she was glad he was back to being all sunny again; it suited him.

"Seriously though… Thank you." His voice was sincere as his laughter subsided.

" _I know… And your welcome. I'll see you tomorrow."_

"Okay! See you later then Doc! Bye." And after his cheery goodbye, there was a click and he ended the call. It took a bit of effort on his part to disconnect them, but he was feeling a lot better now and he agreed with his doctor that some sleep sounded pretty good right about now.

Harry set the alarm on his phone; determined to be awake when Rose arrived tomorrow, before setting the device back on his little table and slowly lying back down in a position that wasn't so uncomfortable.

He chuckled to himself at all those silly thoughts and worries he'd fretted himself with before her call. The young man could really work himself into such a frazzle sometimes… Harry hoped she wasn't just putting him on though…

She DID really seem like a nice person, and he knew it would take time to get to know her before he could be sure of just how much he could "lean" on her… still… it was nice to know he at least had someone who offered to be there for him when he wanted her to. Even if she was his doctor…

He hoped tomorrow would be a much nicer day and that there wouldn't be as much awkwardness or mood swings as he'd been having recently. His mind continued to work as he dozed off and sleep finally claimed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I had fun writing this chapter. XD Harry is such an adorable little socio! I could just glomp and hug him up! X3
> 
> Well, at least these two are getting along better. I'm pretty happy about that. Harry seems to be coming to the realization that there IS at least one person out there who can be there for him when he needs him/her to, and stuff like that. Plus, she is firm enough not to over-indulge him.


	16. What the Symbiote Saw

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the symbiote does some memory delving and some questions are answered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, SO quick note here… I counted each movie as one year LOL so yeah… that's where I got the "two years" thing. M'kay? Good!
> 
> I did almost all of this in Italics because I always felt it helped to give a better Flash Back effect Lmfao.
> 
> Also, for those of you who may end up wondering stuff while you read this, if it pertains to it, then I have an explaination at the very end of this chapter, so hope that helps! :D
> 
> If anyone wants to know, I also write on FF.net under the same username. 
> 
> http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7838347/19/Thank-You-For-The-Venom

_~Flash Back!~_

_It had been approximately two years ago when Rose was still in her residency at the hospital. It had been a really long shift that day and it was late at night when she'd been sent down to the morgue to do some work._

_She had gone down to get the autopsy report on a patient that had died since the nurse she'd asked had forgotten. Unfortunately the coroner was no where to be seen, so she figured she'd wait. With a tired sigh she closed her eyes and leaned against one of the metal doors that held a dead body behind it._

_Now, being in a morgue, one would have expected it to be dead silent; pun aside. But for some reason, she began to hear the muffled sound of banging. Her grey eyes snapped open in shock; her head snapping instinctively toward the direction of the noise!_

_It was a steady sound now and it seemed to be coming from behind one of the metal doors. Fearing someone might have been misdiagnosed as dead and might be suffocating, Rose hurried over to it and opened it!_

_She saw the foot of someone thrashing out at the space where the door had been, but it stopped after the person attached to it realized the door was open. The young physician hesitantly pulled out the slab the body was on._

_Gazing down she saw that it was a man who was muscular and older than her, but he was very pale. Not like a corpse, but very close... Suddenly his eyes snapped open in the same instant that his hand reached up with lightening fast speed to grab her by her throat; catching her off guard!_

_He spoke in a gruff and irritated tone as he stiffly sat up. "It's about damn time someone opened that thing!" Then he winced and held his other hand to his chest and began coughing._

_His grip on her weakened and she took no time in breaking free; taking a few cautious steps back as she watched him practically doubling over in pain. Despite her initial surprise, her curiosity took over as she eyed him._

_Rose approached him guardedly and then gently pressed her hands on his shoulders; trying to get him to lie back down. The man managed to look at her with dangerously narrowed eyes as if trying to warn her away, but her resolve didn't waver._

" _I can help. Just lie down so I can examine you…" Her voice was firm but gentle, and after a moments contemplation, he did as he was told; finding that his coughing began to subside as he did so._

_She managed a small smile of thanks before focusing on the job at hand. It seemed he had two large incisions on his chest that had been made by some sort of blades that she'd never seen before. And though it appeared to be healing, it wasn't doing it fast enough._

" _Hmm, it seems as if your internal organs are damaged… And you've lost an incredible amount of blood… Normally you would be dead, but it seems you are far from normal." Rose commented with morbid fascination. To which he smirked and tried to chortle; only to go into another coughing fit. Her eyes flitted up to his mouth and noticed it had some blood that he seemed to be coughing up._

" _I can help you… But it's going to hurt and you need to hold still. Understand?" She told him sternly. The strange man managed to stifle his coughs and eyed her curiously, but he slowly nodded and did as he was instructed; not something he did often._

_However, he had an odd feeling about this young lady and it wasn't really like he had any other options. Rose placed her hands over the two wounds that had blood trickling very slowly from it. His body gave a violent jerk as if he'd received an electric shock! He gave a grunt; gritting his teeth to keep from making any noise._

_A sharp heat shot throughout his body and he felt that he might pass out from the pain, but then after what seemed like forever, it became a faint ache that was much more tolerable. Having unknowingly closed his eyes somewhere during this whole ordeal he opened them to see the young woman observing him expectantly._

" _How do you feel now?"_

" _B-better…" He managed gruffly; his throat dry from dehydration and the effort to suppress his discomfort._

" _Good. Do you think you can sit up now?"_

" _I'll try…" She kindly helped him into a sitting position seeing as he was still very stiff._

" _W-what did you do to me?" He asked in astonishment as he stared down at his chest at the marks that SHOULD have been there, but were now gone!_

" _I healed you… What ever it is that you used to give yourself a healing factor, it is very slow. You'd have died eventually if I hadn't sped up the process." Her tone was calm and matter of fact. His eyes widened in further surprise._

_Not only did she save his life twice now, it seemed she harbored no ill will about his earlier assault nor attempt to kill her._ _**(A/N: One for getting him out of that corpse cooler and the second for healing him.)** _ _But that didn't mean either of them wasn't going to be cautious._

" _My, aren't we a talented and_ _ **pretty**_ _little thing?" He smirked; gently rubbing his chest where now only a dull twinge resided._

" _You could say that…" The black haired physician went and fetched him a paper cup of water to drink and handed it to him. He gratefully took it and sipped slowly; seeming to be contemplating something._

" _What's your name?" The man asked after a long moment._

" _Rose… Rose Aconitum…" She answered a bit hesitantly; her eyebrow raised curiously._

" _Heh… Well, Rose, it seems I am in further need of your assistance." He said; his eyes fixing on her._

" _Do tell?" She slid her hands into the pockets of her white coat; wondering just what this guy was up to._

" _You see… I need to get out of here… But, without anyone knowing I'm alive or that I've left… Think you can accomplish that?"_

_She considered it; eying him warily._

" _Hmm… I can get you out of here, no problem… though, the second part might be a bit harder since I'm so tired… Healing you took a lot of energy you know." Rose leaned exhaustedly against the metal examination table behind her so that she was facing him better._

_He frowned pensively._

" _It'll require knowing exactly what your burial arrangements are and that sort of information, stuff like that."_

" _Ah! Is that all?! Well then, I can tell you anything you need to know." He flashed her a maniacal, toothy grin._

" _Okay. Then we'd better get out of here…" Rose helped him up off the table and into a standing position on the floor. She pushed the table back in and closed the door, then she turned to the man and grabbed onto his forearm firmly._

" _Don't move." She warned when he frowned at her curiously. Then in the blink of an eye, he realized that they weren't in the morgue anymore, but the small room of an apartment._

" _How… did… you…?" He asked, thoroughly taken aback yet again. It seemed this woman was full of surprises! Rose let go of his forearm and went over to the counter and took a bread roll out of a bag and began to eat it._

" _You said it yourself, I'm talented." He turned to stare at her; now obviously interested in her and glad he hadn't been able to kill her._

" _Why are you eating?" He asked as he took a seat at the small counter across from where she stood on the other side._

" _Refueling… Now, tell me what your arrangements are." She stated coolly._

_And so over the next ten minutes or so that she knew she wouldn't be missed, he proceeded to answer her questions and she simply nodded as she continued to eat the roll, made and ate a sandwich, half a bag of golden raisins, three cans of cola, and a couple of other things he'd lost track of while he spoke._

_Though she ate very fast, she was still somehow able to do it in a manner that she wasn't disgusting or uncouth. She'd even given him a can of soda which he gladly sipped on as they planned._

_Once that was taken care of and she seemed to have gathered enough information, she teleported to the necessary people and used some mind manipulation via telepathy in order to get the documents and paperwork filed and such before going back to work to get the last few details in order._

_Then she finished her shift and went home after making sure she'd altered the tapes the security cameras had recorded and having gotten that autopsy report she'd originally gone to the morgue to get, she decided it was time to call it a day!_

_With all of that out of the way she went back home after using her cell phone to order some Chinese food and a large, stuffed crust super supreme pizza so that way they'd get there by the time she was done getting cleaned up, as she tiredly teleported home._

_Poor Rose was too exhausted to cook and just had a taste for all those said goodies. When she popped back into her apartment, she collapsed face down across her couch and heaved a sigh._

" _So how'd it go?" Asked a teasing voice from the armchair near the couch. She peered up to see the man from the morgue seeming rather amused. She slowly sat up._

" _Everything should be fine now…" She told him; wanting nothing more than some food, a hot shower, and a few weeks of sleep. He grinned toothily again and she managed a small smile in return._

" _You know… You're still naked, right?" Rose stated; it being her turn to be playful. He raised a curious brow._

" _Does that bother or interest you?" He teased right back._

_She gave a tired laugh._

" _Neither. Felt like stating the obvious." The man chortled darkly and ran a hand through his hair._

" _Don't worry. I'll get you some cloths tomorrow or something… Right now I want nourishment and rest."_

_And with that she leaned back against the couch. The man's expression went from darkly amused to a thoughtful and slightly bewildered frown._

" _Why did you help me? I mean… I tried to kill you…"_

" _They say curiosity killed the cat… I wanted to see if it was true or not." She shrugged. He frowned skeptically and she sighed again._

" _Okay, okay. Though I was curious about your condition, something tells me that it'd be better to keep you alive than defend myself and finish you off. It's obvious that I'm stronger than you, even if you were at your peak; you should realize by now that I'm not someone to underestimate." He didn't nod or say anything to confirm this statement, but he didn't have to. It was a fact, pure and simple; despite the slight blow to his ego, he figured it was better than being dead._

" _What makes you think I won't try to kill you again?" The man decided to ask for the heck of it._

" _Meh, stronger than you have tried and failed. I could care less. But I'll follow my instinct as best I can and until it tells me otherwise, I'll let you live. Besides… You need me." She smirked smugly as she said the last sentence. Again, she spoke true and he couldn't deny that._

_Silence fell between them, but it was an oddly comfortable one. It was shattered by a knocking at the door many minutes later. She answered it; making sure to keep him out of sight as she paid for her food both times it happened._

_They ate together before she had enough and went to take a shower. Rose kindly told him to make himself comfortable before going to bed. And he did so by washing the scent of death off of himself before falling asleep on the couch she'd made up for him before she went to sleep in her own room._

_Sometime the next day she got him some clothing and over the course of the next few months she got him other things he needed and did favors for him to help keep his disappearing act a secret._

_And they steadily got to know each other a little better. He'd even asked how she'd been able to do everything without having asked him his name. She pointed out that it was on his toe tag and she'd read it before pulling him out of that hole in the wall, so she didn't have any need to do so._

_They got along together surprisingly well and had developed a strange sort of camaraderie as they discovered they had quite a few things in common. And it turns out that they both found Spider-Man annoying and too much of a ham when it came to publicity, and things of that sort._

_However, she'd noticed that throughout his stay with her and mostly when they spoke of that particular wall crawler, he had moments when he became distant and oddly pensive. She tried not to pry and left it alone. But then, it came time for him to leave and continue on with his plans._

_Things had seemed to settle and his funeral had gone off without a hitch, and no one had been the wiser. All thanks to Rose. He had all of his items gathered and ready to go. When Rose had come home from work, they ate together and then he asked if she would teleport him to a location he specified to her._

_They finished and then she did as she agreed and took him where he wanted to go with his stuff. But as they were saying their goodbyes; though they both knew they'd be seeing each other sooner or later, he fixed her with a strange look hadn't seen before._

" _What's wrong?" He shook his head._

" _There's one last favor I need to ask before I leave… I need you to make me a promise." His voice was dead serious and a little pleading; which startled her a little._

" _What kind of promise?" She frowned in concern._

" _I know he's an idiot, and he could be so much better than what he is… But promise me, that you won't kill that stupid web brained pest?" Rose raised a curious brow._

" _Why?" She asked slowly; wondering why he'd make her promise that particular thing; or for that matter why he was behaving this way. He frowned and he averted his eyes for a few seconds._

_That's when something clicked in her head and she put a hand on his shoulder; causing him to look at her again._

" _I get it… Don't worry. I promise, I won't kill the idiot." He eyed her and then he grinned and she returned it. "Good. Now… I had best be off."_

_And after a few more minutes of conversing, they parted ways._

" _Goodbye Rose." He said as he turned to leave. The young woman smirked and said quietly to herself, so that no one around could hear her, just in case._

" _I'll be seeing yah… Norman…"_

And then everything faded to black and the memory came to an end.

* * *

**To be continuuuuued! Oooooo! DUN DUN DUUUUN!**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, BEFORE anyone gets all mad or weird or whatever about this chapter, I KNOW Norman Osborn was supposed to have "died" in the first movie, BUT I liked him too much! But in the third movie Harry was also supposed to have died, so you can see where I'm going with this right? LOL Well if not, I'll explain.
> 
> Ahem! So here is an explanation to help understand HOW he survived.
> 
> So, basically that Goblin Serum of his gave him (and Harry) a healing factor (though not as fast as Rose's) and when he was injured it put his body into a temporary "dead-like" state due to how bad the damage was, etc.; like suspended animation, so that it could focus entirely on healing. This is how he was able to become stable enough to wake back up when his body recognized that it was in danger of suffocating since a living person DOES need air to breath and live. 
> 
> Lmfao, and that is when Rose found him. Now, I figured that they put him in the corpse cooler to keep him intact and "fresh" while they were finishing up with whoever they were autopsying before him and all that rot, which is why he wasn't all sliced up like a Holiday Ham. This is my theory and the way I'm writing it XD so yeah… Also, I've seen guys who were thought to be dead and no one even noticed that they were just barely and ever so slightly breathing, and deemed them dead. It DOES happen. Norman is just lucky as heck that Rose was there to save him.
> 
> There is a HUGE reason for this, but ya'll won't find out until I finish with it and post it since it is a seperate fanfic in itself. LoL So, no worries. We'll get there! XD


	17. Entrancing Shades of Green

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rose discovers something about Harry she hadn't quite expected and the symbiote gets a nickname...

As the memory came to an end, the symbiote couldn’t help feeling a mix of emotions like: fear for when it’s host was attacked to angry and the desire to torture and kill the attacker, to shock at who the attacker was and then it went back between surprise and interest at the events that followed, along with a sprinkle of a few other little emotions that happened too fast for it to really remember all that well. But right now it felt rather sleepy from it’s big adventure of memory delving. And that had been quite a _long_ memory.

However, seeing the clock beside it’s hosts bed, it realized that at some point during it’s little viewing session, she had moved them to her bedroom. And not only that but apparently it’s host was just turning off her laptop and closing it. Seems she had kept herself busy in it’s partial absence.

“Did you have fun?” Rose asked with faint amusement as she put her computer away and then leaned back and closed her eyes; arms folding behind her head. This seemed to surprise the symbiote, but then again who else would know things like that?

_‘Indeed we did… It would seem that we were more connected to the Goblin Boy than could have been fathomed.’_

“True… I felt such a strange sense of déjà vu when I was treating Harry. Never thought I would ever meet the guys son… heck I never even knew he had a kid. I guess he had his reasons though.” Rose frowned thoughtfully and continued.

“So, it looks like Ol’ Normie is back in town. I bet I know why too. How about you? Have you figured it out?” She inquired to her sentient partner. The other gave a little squirm of slight annoyance.

 _‘No… but we are not sure we will like the answer.’_ Rose smirked.

“So long as he doesn’t interfere with what I’m doing, I think we’ll be fine.”

_‘But what about those items he wants us to fetch?’_

“It’ll be okay. This isn’t the first time he’s asked me to “acquire” stuff for him.” Rose snuggled under the covers, as the symbiote kindly changed her into some cozy pajamas. She yawned and nuzzled her pillow.

“I think we’d better get to sleep though… Gotta be all bright eyed and bushy tailed for that curious little patient of ours.”

Rose heard in her mind the alien give a little grumble but agree that rest was required. The mutant made sure the alarm was set before closing her eyes and allowing that sweet blackness to consume her conscious.

The young woman opened her eyes and was surprised to find that it was not only dark in her room, it was pitch black! She moved to sit up but a gentle pressure on her chest prevented her from doing so. Rose blinked and tried to focus on the oddly familiar shape above her and her eyes widened in surprise.

“Oh… it’s you.” The physician said before relaxing.

“Were we expecting someone else?” The symbiote asked with a quirked brow as it leaned down a little; morphing their surroundings so that it could better be seen by it’s host.

“Hmm, no I guess not.” Rose shifted around a bit on the soft mass that was beneath her body.

“Exactly what am I lying on anyway? It feels better than my mattress…”

“What else? That which encompasses our body at all times of course.” It said in a slightly amused tone; her remark being taken as a compliment.

Rose blinked as her tired mind worked that out; after all, it was much harder to think when one was supposed to be unconscious.

“Oh! So I’m lying on you!” She considered this and smiled.

“That is very sweet of you.”

At this she felt the black mass under her give a little wriggle of delight that she was satisfied with it. She gazed up at the symbiote as it returned her smile with one that, to anyone else, might have looked frightening; what with those lethal looking teeth! But it didn’t phase her a bit, in fact she was a tad thoughtful at the moment.

“You know… I don’t really have much of a name for you… I know we are supposed to be a singular entity and all… and that you were okay with being called Venom, but I just feel like you should have a nickname at least… or something that suits you better.” Rose frowned a little as she tried to come up with a nickname.

The symbiote mimicked her frown; though it’s was more out of the thought of being referred to as a separate being from its host. Did the thought of being considered one with Venom repulse her now and this was her way of keeping it at a distance? It was rather hard to tell with this human… but, despite how kindly she’d treated it, the symbiont would always be paranoid about whether or not she’d eventually tire of it…

“How about Sym? It is short for symbiote. I suppose it isn’t as classy sounding, but if you have something better then let me know. You deserve a nice name…” She beamed up at the symbiote; who was quite taken aback by the pride it saw in her eyes.

“You’ve been doing so great about having been separated from your previous hosts… If and when you ever decide to leave me for someone else, I just want you to know that…” Rose paused as her eyes met the white gleaming ones that stared down intently into hers.

“… it has been an honor having been your host.” The sentient alien didn’t know what to say! It merely gazed into the grey orbs of it’s little host before giving an almost numb little nod in agreement with the new term of endearment, until she snuggled down into the cushy black mass of a bed and closed her eyes with a contented little sigh. It watched her for a moment thoughtfully…

“Fin.” Rose opened her eyes and blinked up.

“What…?”

“If we are Infinita in our other form, then Fin suits us. It is… from a good name…” Either her mind was really foggy, or the lighter shade of black on the other’s face meant that the little alien blushing! Too cute!

“If it makes you happy, then Fin it is!” Rose couldn’t help feeling rather touched at the sweet meaning behind the other’s choice. She was glad their semi-partnership was having a positive effect on it.

Fin nodded and tried to keep composed as it busied itself with gingerly wrapping the other in it’s tendrils to form a blanket.

“Oh… and Fin?” It saw her gazing up warmly at it.

“Yes-ss?” It asked a tad hesitantly yet curiously as it leaned down a little.

“Thanks for making sure I got a good nights sleep…” She closed her eyes and the symbiote tilted it’s head slightly to the side, as it noticed her face was dusted with a faint blush of her own.

Fin decided to stay silent and just let Rose enjoy the peace and quiet; rather than say anything to ruin the moment. Instead, it raised one of it’s clawed hands and with much care, it ran the now dulled digits, through her ebony hair. She made a pleasant little sound but did not move from her comfy position.

They stayed pleasantly like that, until it was time to wake up. Rose’s alarm clock alerting them as to when that was; much to Fin’s distain, as it was enjoying itself with it’s little flower. It wasn’t quite ready for her to have to wake up yet…

Now that the symbiont had a host with an ever replenishing source of Phenethylamine, it’s sanity was better in tact and it was better able to think more clearly than it had with the previous hosts. However, that still didn’t keep it from behaving in a possessive and rather selfish manner when it came to having to share Rose’s time with other people; especially that Goblin brat…

But, alas! She awoke, and the serene darkness it had cocooned her in, faded away into reality. Even Rose had to admit she enjoyed herself. It’d been some of the best sleep she’d had in quite a long time; even if it had been “symbiote induced” she thought with a little smirk at the nice gesture that her partner bestowed on her.

Rose sat up; shutting off the alarm on her phone as she moved and stretched. Then it was the usual routine before she decided to just be really lazy and teleport to work; after having made sure to have packed herself a backpack with a few things to keep busy with, in case Harry fell asleep on her again; as it was inevitable.

After being buzzed in and making her way to the door, Bernard greeted her in his welcomed gentlemanly way and lead her to Harry’s room.

“So how has he been this morning?”

“He seems to be doing quite well. Master Harry is even on the phone with his company.” The Butler said with a calm tone. Rose raised an eyebrow.

“So, he’s telecommuting until he can go back in?” They came to a stop just outside of Harry’s room.

“Correct, Dr. Aconitum. So, if you do not mind. I shall have to ask that you wait out here while I inform the young Master of your arrival.” Bernard’s smile was rather apologetic as he gave a curt bow.

“I don’t mind. We all have our duties.” She smiled back in an understanding way as he gave a little nod and then entered Harry’s room. A few minutes passed, and she could hear the muffled tone of the young Osborn’s voice chatting rather sternly and businesslike to whomever it was on the other end of the phone.

_‘He sounds like a rather capable businessman…’_

_‘What makes us say that?’_ Fin asked skeptically; still not thinking very much of the Osborn boy.

Rose waited patiently; leaning against the wall nonchalantly.

_‘The tone of his voice at the moment… but, mostly because there are more sides to a person than most would have originally conceived. For example: there is our patient, the sunny and rather bi-polar Harry. Then, there’s the side he shows when around his friends; he is more confident and prone to cracking jokes. But, then there is the more sociopathic side of Harry where he’s more in Goblin-mode than himself, at least from what I can surmise from having known his father, and also for seeing it come out when angered, upset or if Peter does something he doesn’t like. I’d say that that version of him is the most unpredictable one, but the latter is rather tied with it from what I’ve seen and heard so far.’_

Rose sighed quietly as she gazed at nothing in particular.

_‘So, to sum up… I’m quite sure he has a business side to him as well. And again, knowing his father and the fact that he strives to do everything he can to honor the memory of him; since he still thinks he is dead, then I am sure he does his best to take care of the family business. And THAT my dear Fin, is where my observation comes from.’_

_‘Hmm… We suppose it does make sense.’_ Fin replied slowly and thoughtfully, as it processed this. It wondered if there were more sides to it’s host like there was with the Goblin brat…?

“Excuse me Doctor, but Master Harry is ready to see you now.” The sound of Bernard’s voice snapped her out of her internal conversation and managed to make her head turn sharply in his direction.

“Very well. Thank you.” He gave a nod as he held the door open for her, and she entered the room.

“Hey! What’s up, Doc?” Greeted the sunny voice of Harry as he grinned somewhat goofily at her from where he sat up in his bed. Rose approached him, tilting her head slightly to the side. He thought that was a little cute as he watched her.

“And a good morning to you, Harry.” She returned his smile with a kind one of her own; which seemed to brighten his demeanor… if that was even possible.

Rose set her backpack down on a chair in the corner, before excusing herself to wash her hands. She came back and snapped on a pair of surgical gloves and her stethoscope.

“And how is my number one patient today?” Rose smiled when Harry laughed softly; getting that he was currently her ONLY patient.

“Much better than yesterday!” He grinned and then rubbed the back of his head a tad sheepishly; a pink hue gracing over his features.

“Especially after last night…” Though this was said a bit more quietly; as if talking more to himself than her.

“Is that so?” Rose asked with amused interest. He gave a nod; his face getting a shade darker, but his pleased expression didn’t waver.

“I am quite glad then. Now, let’s get the inspection underway then, shall we?” Harry gave an enthusiastic yet curt nod and the usual examine commenced! He did much better this time than he did the others; the young man was in such a good mood today and thus was trying to be as helpful as he could to the physician.

“I know it isn’t any of my business, but did your call go well?” Rose asked in her usual polite tone, while she finished listening to his heart and began writing her findings down on the chart.

He blinked; surprised that she’d even bother taking an interest. Harry figured Bernard probably explained that he had been on the phone to try and get back into his work routine.

“Thankfully not as bad as I thought it would. Even though I left strict instructions while I was at the hospital, they still can be pretty hopeless without me.” Harry sighed and shook his head a little.

“Well, at least you’re needed. That’s better than them doing better without you, isn’t it?” Rose offered as she glanced up from her chart upon hearing his sigh.

“That’s true… Heh, you sure like to look on the bright side, don’tcha, Doc?” She set her chart down and leaned in to examine his eyes.

“It’s much nicer than the darker side of life… believe me.” Rose suddenly felt a pang of sadness at the fact that he was blind in the eye that she turned to examine.

Hmm… now that she noticed… he had _really_ lovely green eyes. Though the other one was paled, it still was a nice shade; and though it never personally bothered her before, she found that she hardly even noticed the scarring. Rose had no idea that she’d lowered the examining device and was currently staring into his eyes with such analyzing intensity!

Harry stayed still; not quite sure what was going on, but not really minding all at the same time… Her face was only about three or four inches away from his! He could smell the sweet yet crisp scent of cinnamon and ginger emanating off of her.

For some reason it reminded him of pumpkin pie and Autumn. Harry unknowingly licked his lips; suddenly starting to feel hungry, though he had a feeling it wasn’t at all for pie…!

_‘His eyes… they’re…’_

“so _green_ …” Rose finished out loud and rather unconsciously; her tone just audible enough for someone as close as Harry was to hear. But, the way in which she’d said it; with such a strange sense of fascinating, it sent a chill down Harry’s spine as his eyes widened in surprise.

“Um… what are…?” He queried, his own voice as quiet as hers; but his was rather unsure and wary as he did his best to keep it from shaking. Unfortunately, this seemed to break whatever spell she had been under. Rose blinked, as if coming out of some sort of trance; slowly pulling away and straightening up, as the young woman came to realize just what she’d been doing.

“Your eyes… I… er…” It was Rose’s turn to have her cheeks stained with what Harry thought was a becoming rosy blush.

“My apologies… I couldn’t help but to… _admire_ their color.” The dark haired female picked up her chart; glad to have something which she could hide her face behind.

 _‘Smooth move.’_ Fin couldn’t help teasing.

 _‘Oh, shut it you!’_ Rose retorted in embarrassment; hearing Fin’s mad cackling echo inside her head.

That wasn’t normally something she did to any regular person, much less a patient! Rose couldn’t help but feel a little ashamed of herself for having let her professionalism falter like that. She wasn’t supposed to be gazing into the patients eyes; no matter _how entrancing_ they were!

She felt her face heat up a little more as the image of those emerald orbs popped up in her mind. Rose tried to ignore it and write down what she needed to on the damn chart. Harry of course was still pretty stunned by the whole ordeal.

It wasn’t very often… oh hell! Okay, he’d NEVER had anyone give him such an intense look! Much less because they admired his eyes! For crying out loud, one of them was all blind and scarred up! The young man would have expected to have gotten stared at with repulsion or even pity; not _that look_ she’d given him…! Such unadulterated fascination!

And now here she was, being all adorably embarrassed about it! Harry found himself grinning again; his giddiness and thoughts causing him to forget about that mysterious hungry feeling he’d had just moments before. It would seem he’d finally managed to fluster his doctor! Not something he imagined just _anyone_ could do!

“Is that so?” Harry asked, trying not to sound as jovial about it as he felt; the young Osborn couldn’t help feeling a little cocky as he watched her trying to hide behind that chart.

“Yes.” Calm, level, it seemed Rose was trying to focus on her writing; she had turned away from him to better hide her face which had thankfully begun to cool. Though Harry was just the tiniest bit irked at not being able to see her expression now.

“How come?” His tone was all innocent and held a childlike curiosity; though if she’d been looking at him, she would have caught the mischievous sparkle in his eyes.

Rose froze as she paused to consider his question. Then, to his bemused surprise, she slowly turned around to regard him thoughtfully. She took a few cautious steps forward and stopped once she was close enough to see his eyes well enough from a safe and more appropriate distance.

“Not entirely sure… there’s something about these lovely shades of green that just… _mesmerize_ me…” Again her tone was as quiet as before and he leaned in closer as she spoke so that he could hear… at least, that’s the reason he told himself he was doing it.

Both of them seemed just as baffled as the other; though Harry being as self-depreciating as he was, happened to be more so than her. But, before anymore could be said, the sound of ringing caught their attention. Harry blinked and turned to see it was his cell phone that was the cause of the disturbance.

_‘Whoever it is that’s just killed this moment… I **HATE** you!’_

Harry thought in manic anger. His good eye twitched and he shot a glare at the phone; Rose quirked a brow at the other’s expression as she reached over and handed it to him, and he managed a thankful smile before answering it.

“Hello? Oh, hey Pete.” He answered in as friendly a tone as he could muster under the circumstances.

 _‘Well **that** makes sense… if he isn’t busy being a flaky friend, he’s being a total moment killer. Damn web for brains…’ _ Harry thought exasperatedly, as he mentally rolled his eyes.

“Oh? Okay. Um, yeah. You can come over I guess.” The dark haired young man rubbed the back of his head as he spoke; unsure as to whether he really minded Peter visiting. He hoped Pete wasn’t going to try and hit on Rose again… Though, why he still couldn’t fathom. All he knew was that he didn’t like it. And for now… it’s all he needed to understand.


	18. Referrals Hurt!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rose and Harry were interrupted, and Peter finds out how much a referral can hurt.

Rose waited quietly and patiently for the call to end, and after the exchange of a few more words, it did. Harry hung up the phone with a little pouting frown. Seeing such an expression made her smirk a little as she pretended not to notice and instead smiled calmly.

“I take it you’ll be having a visitor today?”

Harry nodded as he handed the phone back to her; she’d kindly offered her hand out to him to take it and set it back on the table.

“Yeah… Pete’s coming over.”

“You don’t seem too happy about it… are you okay Harry?” Rose asked as she frowned with concern. Upon seeing her reaction, Harry smiled a little; trying to be reassuring.

“Yep. There’s just a _lot_ of stuff that’s happened between he and I… and although I’m trying to do my best to sort it out and maintain our friendship, I’m just rather pensive about the whole thing, I guess. You know what I mean?” He asked as he looked up at her; hoping that she would, since it still kind of confused even him. Rose thought for a moment and smiled warmly; placing a gloved hand lightly on his shoulder.

“I think so…. Relationships are quite delicate and complex. You should try to use common sense and sort out how you feel about everything; so as to act accordingly from there.” He gave her a nod and she went back to her work.

The former villain was rather relieved that she seemed to understand and give him some advice; and yet he knew she had no idea exactly how _complicated_ his and Peter’s friendship really was (though unbeknownst to him she really did)! They’d gone from being the best of friends to rivals, and then to mortal enemies!

It was FAR from being a simple relationship… But even so, he really wished he had someone with whom he could talk about it all with who wasn’t Peter or MJ… He couldn’t bring himself to try talking to Bernard again. It just seemed too awkward and he ended up feeling all self-conscious and regretting it. Which ended up confusing the elderly man and causing him to worry, and that made Harry feel worse.

“Harry… what’s wrong?” Harry blinked; he hadn’t realized that he had been staring sternly down at the blankets covering his lap. He looked up to see Rose was observing him with a worried expression.

“O-oh… Nothing. Just thinking.” He was starting to feel like a real downer today.

 _‘Stupid Pete!’_ He’d been feeling really good before he’d called!

Rose herself felt bad that she couldn’t help him in the ways he needed it. It would have been quite nice to have divulged that she knew all about him being the Green Goblin, that she knew his father and that the crazy bastard was still alive, and so much more to ease his mind…

But, Rose knew that she couldn’t. At least not right now. His father had asked her not to tell Harry about him being alive. And trying to explain _why_ she understood would end up with her having to explain the “how” and the “why” and all sorts of other things that would just complicate matters… And it wasn’t like she could just oust herself as a mutant AND the host of the symbiote, whom she’s been helping to terrorize his bug brained friend all this time!

Well, she’d just have to do her best with what she had to work with and hope it would work out for the better.

“Would you like me to leave when he gets here, so you two can have some privacy?” Rose asked as she began to change his bandages, examine, clean the wounds and re-bandage them with clean ones.

“Hmmm…” He frowned thoughtfully as he watched her work; unsure of what to say. In truth, he didn’t want her to leave him alone with Pete today, but his friend probably wanted to talk about something Spider-Man related or something… still…

“Unless he has something personal he wants to discuss, I don’t see why you need to make yourself absent.” There! He’d decided! Yes sir! His decision was that he didn’t want to make the choice right now; that way he wouldn’t have her leave the room for no real reason.

After all, he’d only just started not loathing Peter for all this time just the other night when he had basically sacrificed himself to save the hapless hero. So, even though he, MJ and Pete knew to at least try to keep up appearances around others, their friendship was still pretty strained and needed a lot of working out. He was really trying to hope that they could though…

Harry was oddly rather neutral with Mary Jane though. Well… not so much neutral as numb, he decided. Yeah, that word seemed to fit better. She’d used him like his father had warned him about, and then left him for Peter, and a few other things which rather pissed him off if he thought about it too much…

This is why Harry typically didn’t feel any real feelings for her anymore; hence numb. But, he knew if he was going to try and be friends with Peter that he had to get along with MJ too. So, he’d do his best to deal with it and just be civil as he’d managed to do in the hospital the other morning. He thought he’d done quite well though… then again he HAD been pretty happy to just be going home and knowing that Rose would be around…

It was a bit weird though, because there were a few moments when the redhead seemed to enjoy the misery of Spider-Man just as much as he used too; and still sort of did… Sure, it was sort of nice, but also kind of disturbing since those two were supposed to be _dating_.

He was pretty sure Mary Jane was somehow using Peter for some messed up reason; though for what he didn’t know, nor did he think it was really any of his business to get into. It’d probably just spark a fight with Peter since he was so blinded by his love for the girl. Ah well… who better than he to fake nice?

“Very well then.” Rose smiled as she examined her work.

“There, all done!” Harry was brought out of his thoughts as he looked to see that she had finished changing his bandages.

“So it is.” He agreed absentmindedly. Rose frowned; wondering what was bothering him, since it could be any number of things. So, perhaps it was time to try and make an attempt to put her patient back in a sunny mood…or at least distract him.

“Hey Harry?”

“Hmm?”

“Snickerdoodle.” Rose said in a nonchalant tone. Harry suddenly turned his gaze to her; frowning slightly and wondering if he’d misheard her.

“What?”

“I said, Snickerdoodle.”

“Oka-aay… What about it?” His eyebrow quirked up; wondering if she’d suddenly lost her mind. However, it was now her turn to frown in slight confusion as she crossed her arms over her chest.

“Hmm, and here I thought I’d at least get a chortle of surprise.” Harry blinked; obviously not understanding.

“And why would you think that?”

“It’s a pretty funny word. I mean, if someone randomly said a word like “Snickerdoodle” to me, and it has happened before, I’d laugh.” At this, Harry’s eyes widened a little as it seemed to click.

“Are… you trying to get me to laugh?” She gave him a small smile.

“Yeah, I suppose I should’ve gone for a joke or perhaps something else. But all that popped into my head was that word.” The physician gave a halfhearted shrug. Harry managed a half smile in return.

“Thanks. But, you really don’t have to trouble yourself.”

“It’s no trouble.” Rose glanced slowly around the room; trying to think of something to talk about until pesky Parker arrived.

“You know… you’ve been making quite the recovery Harry. I’ve never seen anyone recuperate from the injuries you obtained the way you have.” Rose found herself saying calmly. THIS seemed to get his attention!

He stared at her rather dumbfounded for a minute; trying to come up with some sort of response that wouldn’t give away everything. Harry forced an airy smile as he rubbed the back of his head a tad nervously.

“Isn’t my recovering a good thing though?” The woman nodded.

“Indeed it is. Though, since it has been more _speedy_ than most, it makes me wonder if there is something you aren’t telling me…” Why she was saying these things, the mutant wasn’t quite sure at first; it had just come to mind and she thought it might be interesting to see where it led. Meh, blame her slight boredom with how there wasn’t much else to do but to play with Harry.

“Like what?”

“Not sure. It could be any number of reasons. You could be experimenting with some sort of medication I’m not aware of, perhaps? If that is the case, it might be wise to tell me since I am your physician, and also so that I can make sure it won’t clash with the drugs currently in your system. It’d be a shame if you died or had a bad reaction because you simply chose not to tell me.”

Harry frowned; while inwardly he felt rather nervous and a little panicked. The reasons being because one: he wasn’t as much of a genius as his father was when it came to chemicals, as his specialty was more the tech aspect.

And thus hadn’t been able to research or test the Goblin Serum after finding it, as much as he would have liked to; though he did hope he had been able to make a few improvements from what his father had done. 

And two: because he also wasn’t a doctor and had been wondering since he took the serum, whether or not it may have any other ill-effects when combined with any medications or chemicals that could and probably would end up being introduced to his body.

So far he’d been okay; other than the thankfully much rarer hallucinations of his father, mood swings and general slight insanity… among a few other issues, he had been doing pretty good.

However, the fact that she even asked him a question like that or was even on that train of thought bothered him; and he wondered if perhaps she knew something he’d been trying to avoid letting her find out? Which was pretty much everything about his personal life in regards to the Green Goblin and Spider-Man.

Harry decided to give a little chuckle as if to laugh off what she’d just said.

“Of course not! That would be stupid! And even if I had, I’m sure it would have popped up on one of those tests that the hospital did, right?”

“Not necessarily. If it was something specific that isn’t normally tested for, then the doctors in the lab wouldn’t know what to look for and might even shrug it off if any change isn’t significant enough to bother bringing attention to. That’s how a lot of people overlook certain conditions or answers.” The black haired woman stated in a matter of fact way, her gaze resting observantly upon Harry; watching how he handled the given circumstances with interest.

Harry opened his mouth to reply, but there was a knock at the door and both of them turned their attention to it.

 _‘The whelp is here…’_ Fin said, finding it odd how one of the VERY few things the symbiote admitted to having in common with Harry, was their dislike of Spider-Man/Peter Parker… though Harry seemed to be trying to mend their relationship, while the alien was more interested in mincing the masked menace.

_‘Yes Fin, I know.’_

_‘We seem to have gotten wrapped up in our playing with the Goblin Boy.’_ Despite any common ground they shared, the wariness for Harry was ever present.

 _‘Well, he is much more fun than the webbed whelp out there.’_ At this the symbiont begrudgingly agreed, since at least with Harry, it’s host seemed to enjoy herself more. That didn’t mean Fin’s opinion had improved of Harry any…

After Harry bayed them enter, Bernard was seen opening the door for Peter; who walked in after muttering a shy thanks. The Butler merely nodded before closing the door behind the visitor.

Much to Rose’s and the symbiote’s devilish delight, they noticed that he seemed to be having a little trouble walking normally! Thankfully she was able to hold back the smirk begging to find its way onto her lips. He gave a rather sheepish wave.

“Hiya Harry! How are you feeling?” Peter was smiling his usual shy yet cheery smile, but when he realized Rose was there too; his cheeks were dusted by a light pinkish hue and he quickly lowered his waving hand in an embarrassed sort of way.

“Hey Pete.” Harry smiled, though it was a tad tiredly; Rose saw this and knew that his fatigue was partly fake, and the rest was due to the medication combined with how early it was. Not even taking into account the emotional drain he put himself through. But mostly, he was faking it. She wondered if he was hoping to get rid of Peter by doing this? It was kind of a good plan. 

“Thanks to the Doc here, I’m doing a lot better.” Harry flashed Rose a cheery yet fond smile; which made her smile in return, due to how infectious his could be. Peter watched them for a moment and frowned ever so slightly; which he quickly turned back into his previous smile when they turned their attention back to him.

“That’s good…” Peter managed to say before glancing over to Rose.

“Good morning Dr. Aconitum!” His tone took on a slightly perkier tone than when he’d greeted Harry; and this didn’t go unnoticed by either doctor OR patient. If Rose had her eyes on her patient; she would have caught the split second in which Harry’s eyes narrowed darkly at his “friend”.

Harry’s eyes then fixed on Rose; who became rather passive as her smile lost the usual geniality that the ex-villain always saw when she looked at _him._ And it made him feel the tiniest touch better about his friend visiting.

“Hello Mr. Porter.”

“Th-that’s Parker…” The photographer said in an attempt to remind the woman of his actual name.

“Really? I could have sworn it was Porter.” Rose said in a mock thoughtful way. Harry couldn’t suppress a smirk at this.

 _‘Hah! In your face Pete! She’s **never** forgotten or said **my** name wrong!’ _ He thought triumphantly as he watched their idle chatter. Peter looking a bit taken aback and put down that the doctor didn’t remember his name for the second time now.

“No, it’s Parker.” At this Rose merely shrugged aloofly; the symbiote snickering in her mind at how easily she was able to bother the brunette.

“If you say so.” She turned away to go and check the vitals on the machines; grabbing the chart again to make notes and such. A small silence fell over the room before Harry decided it might be better to find out what Peter wanted so Parker wouldn’t be around _his_ doctor any longer.

“So Pete! What brings you here?” Peter jumped a little; as he had zoned out and was staring at Rose as she moved around Harry’s bed.

‘What the Hell, Pete?! Don’t you already have Mary Jane and all of New York gushing over you? Do you **really** need every **single** person to like you?!’

Yep, he was pretty good at controlling his outside emotions he thought. All those years of practice Harry supposed.

“O-oh! W-well, you see…” Pete glanced a tad nervously at Rose and Harry understood that he wanted to talk about Spidey stuff. Ugh, it _figured_ … Ever the egotistical hero complex. Harry merely gave a nod of understanding though and set his own gaze upon the doctor.

“Rose, could you please excuse us?” He asked her politely; flashing her a slightly apologetic smile as she turned to look at him.

“Of course, Harry.” Rose set her chart down and briskly left the room without another word; not so much as acknowledging Parker’s existence as she passed by him. Harry took a happy note of that. When the door clicked softly behind her, Peter turned his attention back to Harry; as he had been caught up in watching Rose leave.

 _‘The whiny bastard…!’_ Harry wasn’t quite happy about his friend doing that and thought that the photographer should keep his eyes to himself. This of course turned his earlier friendly tone a tad impatient.

“So what is it Peter?”

“Harry, you won’t believe this, but the symbiote is back!” Peter said in a panicked yet hushed tone, as he approached the side of his friend’s bed. Harry’s green eyes widened in surprise.

“You’re kidding… right? I mean, I almost _died_ saving you from that thing! How can it be back?!” He tried to keep his tone from rising and worrying anyone outside; like Rose, but it was rather hard to do as he was both shocked and rather worried for Peter. He saw how much that thing was Hell-bent on ending the onesie wearing hero.

“No, I’m serious Harry. And what’s even worse is that it seems to have found a new host!”

“Really? Anyone you know?” He asked; having had a little time to talk to Peter when he visited last. Peter had explained a little about how it had been Eddie Brock; whoever the heck that was… Needless to say he was a bit touchy on the details. Pete shook his head.

“If it is, then I’ve no idea. But, I don’t think it is because the person herself doesn’t se-”

“WHOA! Rewind a little! _Her?!_ The new Venom is a _girl_?” Harry’s concern turned to humor as he realized that his friend had been thwarted by a female; trying hard to keep from laughing as Pete frowned.

“Don’t tell me this is the same chick I heard about on the news who kicked your webbed ass all around New York?” Peter got red in the face; his tone embarrassed as he felt all offended.

“She did NOT!”

“Pete, she totally did! It was all over the news! I saw it while I was still in the hospital! And the papers- especially that boss of yours- seems to have been having a field day with it! Apparently those who had cell phones took pictures and sent them in.”

Peter hung his head as he recalled the mortification he felt upon having to deal with the aftermath of that when it happened and sighed heavily because Jameson was STILL getting a good laugh about it.

“You know… Jameson wants me to get him photos of her, right?” He said sulkily.

“Oh… dude… that’s cold.” Harry tried to say in a consoling way, but his chest was starting to hurt from suppressing the laughter threatening to bubble over at any second. He held up a hand to cover his mouth; hoping it might look sympathetic.

“Yeah, but like I was saying… She doesn’t seem to have any desire to kill me, just screw around with me because of some deranged sense of honor.”

“What do you mean?” Harry eyed him curiously at that.

“Turns out the symbiote was pretty bitter about when I rejected it, so she seems to think that since I hurt it’s feelings or whatever that I had to be punished. Something about “exacting vengeance”.” Peter gave a shrug as he went to sit down on the foot of the other’s bed, but quickly stood up with a wince. Harry raised a brow again.

“Hmm, I hate to say it Pete, but you do sometimes mess up in ways that end up causing trouble for others… perhaps to her you really did do wrong by the goop and her sense of justice isn’t as “deranged” as you think it is? Could be you have a potential ally if you just tried to explain things in a calm and peaceful way.” He said thoughtfully. Peter stared at him like he was insane; which he KIND of was… maybe… sorta… yeah, definitely insane…

“Ally?! Ri-iiight! And I suppose she and I can just sit down and talk this out over a cup of coffee and pie too?” He said skeptically.

“Hey! Don’t underestimate the power of pie! It’s delicious!” Harry told him as he fondly remembered the last slice he’d had when he and Pete were in that one café and he’d been all evil and plotting.

_‘I wonder if they deliver…? Does Rose like pie? I bet she does. Wonder what her favorite is? I bet it’s probably something cute lik-’_

“Harry-yyyyy! Hello? Earth to Osborn! Anyone home?!” Green eyes blinked as he realized he’d tuned out Pete and gotten lost in thoughts about pie and Rose. He cleared his throat and felt the faint heat rise in his cheeks as Pete eyed him oddly.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah… Just got caught up in some thoughts. Got a lot on my plate with OsCorp and all, you know?” His friend gave him a nod, but it was clear he really didn’t understand as the confusion was evident on his face.

“So what were you saying?” He cleared his throat as he tried to pay better attention to the other.

“Just trying to tell you about how I was attacked last night again by the symbiote’s new host.”

“Oh really? How’d it go? Did you win this time?”

“Well… uh… no… not really…” Peter averted his eyes to stare at anything besides Harry. His discomfiture became more apparent by the second.

“What happened?” Peter sighed heavily again and very, VERY reluctantly, and with much pressing from a curious Harry; he told him all about what had happened. Pete showed him the “autograph” she’d given him in permanent marker, that still shone brightly and black as ever, despite how many times he’d tried to wash it off. And, he also told him about the horrific “punishment” she’d given him.

However, Harry couldn’t help himself when he heard about a so-called “hero” getting spanked by a supposed “villain” or anti-hero as she’d written, and burst out laughing!

All the mirth he’d tried to hold back earlier spewed itself out until his stomach and chest hurt, and he had to calm himself down; doubled over and clutching where it hurt as he took a few calming breaths.

Peter glared at him; wondering if the other had anymore pumpkin bombs around, but then feeling bad as he saw his friend’s scarred face and deciding that he probably shouldn’t get so upset.

After all, Harry probably still had some of that “Goblin-mindset” left. Yeah, he was going to blame it on that and not the fact that ANYONE who heard his tale of torment would have laughed; heck even Aunt May would’ve giggled! She’d have felt bad, but she’d still have found it comical in some way.

“Oh… Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to laugh like that. But at least I now see why you couldn’t stand to sit down a while ago.” Harry managed as his laughter died down and he was able to sit up again; wiping the tears from his eyes.

“Yeah… Whatever.” He grumbled sulkily.

“Aww, come on Pete. Don’t be like that! I didn’t mean any harm.” Harry smiled that carefree smile of his. It fell a little as he saw that Peter still felt a tad morose and offended.

“I know… But I’m still pretty ticked about the whole thing. I mean, she _spanked_ me! Who _does_ that?!” Harry motioned for him to lower his voice and the other blinked and hoped no one had heard.

“Apparently, Infinita does. Kind of an interesting name by the way… Did you know it means Infinity? I’m sort of wondering what she’s capable of, but from what you’ve told me, it seems to me that she is full of tricks!” Harry mused aloud as Peter rolled his eyes; wondering if it had been a good idea to even bother telling him about this.

“So, anything else you wanted to discuss?” Peter looked thoughtful for a moment and his hand unconsciously slid into his pocket to clutch something. Harry raised an eyebrow at this.

“Uh… Pete? You ok?” The other seemed to snap out of whatever thoughts he had been having and gave a nod as he frowned. Harry was going to wrap things up and call Rose back in, when he remembered something.

“Oh! Hey, have you seen MJ lately? I haven’t heard from her since I saw her in the hospital when they were taking me home.” At this Peter looked rather confused; quite a few emotions flashing across his face that were too fast for Harry to discern.

“Ah, about that… seems Mary Jane got a gig someplace; she wouldn’t tell me where. And says she won’t be back for a while. I guess MJ will explain it better the next time I get a call from her… that’s what she said anyway…” Ah, so is this why Pete was so moody today? Harry figured that was probably why. MJ tended to make him all angst ridden and… well… much like he currently behaved.

Harry did his best to try and cheer his friend up over the course of the next twelve minutes or so before he got tired of the other’s “feel sorry for me” attitude; finding it awfully depressing, and so he changed the subject to ANYTHING else. They conversed a while longer before Peter decided that it was time for him to get going.

“Hey Pete. You know, you might want to get that… uh… “affected area” of yours checked. Its kind of noticeable.” Harry did his best to keep as straight a face as he could. Pete managed a strained little smile before bidding the other goodbye and heading out the door; leaving the young Osborn quite alone.

Meanwhile, as Rose had waited outside of her patient’s door; she decided a little eavesdropping was in order. It may not have been polite, but it was rather necessary since she figured they might talk about her and the symbiote. Rose went to the bathroom and camouflaged herself (with Fin’s help of course) before phasing through the doors.

The mutant physician climbed the wall and perched herself carefully where she could see and hear them, while remaining unnoticed. She observed their entire conversation; finding Harry’s comment about her being a potential ally for Spider-Man to be rather amusing. As much as the web-head might like that, Infinita wasn’t keen on helping him if she could avoid it.

Fin agreed with her thoughts curiously enough. Rose knew it was still rather embittered toward the aggravating arachnid and wished to have no part in helping him nor even being near him for now. She figured it probably hurt to be around the one who rejected you.

When she saw Peter getting ready to leave, she made her way back outside in the hall near a large window that had a nice, comfy window seat that she seated herself upon; pretending to be staring out the window. Though, when the door opened, those grey orbs of hers were watching nonchalantly from the corner of her eyes.

Peter caught sight of her and began his approach. As he neared, she turned her cool gaze upon him and he halted. She counted ten seconds before deciding that that was enough of his incessant staring that she was going to freakin’ take today.

“Can I help you, Mr. Portman?” Her tone was calm and even as usual; though he seemed to take it as some sort of encouragement of some kind. Where he got that, she had no idea… though thankfully it DID seem to bug him that she got his name wrong.

“That’s Parker, Dr. Aconitum.”

“Perky?”

“Parker…”

“Sore?”

“Parke-wait… Wha?” This seemed to catch him off guard and he blushed as red as his Spidey suit!

“Are you sore? If not, then you certainly have a funny way of walking.” Rose elaborated coolly with a hint of amusement.

“Oh… I… Uhm… Y-yes… You see…” He started to explain nervously, but she held up a hand to silence him.

“My apologies Mr. Parker, but I cannot attend to any other patient besides Harry.” She told him politely yet firmly. His face fell as it seemed that when his friend suggest he get help, he had thought of asking for Rose’s.

“However, I _can_ refer you to an associate of mine who is just as capable; if not more so, to tend to whatever issues you may have.” The grey eyed woman continued; reaching into the pocket of her white coat to pull out one of Tabitha’s business cards. They kept each others in case they ended up in situations like this where they had to refer someone. Peter took the white card and read it over; his eyebrow quirking a little.

“Dr. Tenshi?” Rose merely gave a nod. However, he felt the name was familiar to him. He just couldn’t place where he’d heard or read it before.

“Thank you, Dr. Aconitum…” He managed a small, shy smile.

“Just doing my job.” She wondered what it was that Norman saw in this kid, besides the potential for tormenting him.

“Before I go… I was wondering…” Peter shifted nervously from one foot to the other; wincing a little from the movement.

“Do you think I could call you by your first name?” At this, the black haired physician found she’d grown QUITE tired of his presence!

“No.” She said firmly.

“Oh, well its just that Harry gets to call you by yo-”

“The reasons for that do not concern you, Mr. _Prier_.” He looked rather surprised by her stern and rather scolding tone; not to mention the name.

“Its Parke-”

“If you intend to pry into my business then it’s Prier as far as I am concerned. Now… you had best be going. Don’t you have a _job_ or school?” Peter frowned a little; rather dispirited by her obvious rejection of him in general and decided that it might be time to get going.

“Oh… Sorry… I didn’t mean it that way, Doctor.” He rubbed the back of his head when her expression softened back into the usual stoicness she wore around him.

“Yeah… Okay… I should get going. I’ll see you later I guess.” Peter walked passed her on his way out.

“Have a nice day.” Was all she said as she as Rose reached out and gave his sore bottom a hard SMACK when he passed by; eliciting a sharp, painful yelp from him. The woman swiftly turned and headed back to the entrance to Harry’s room; not even bothering to see the painfully mortified expression on the hero’s face.

It just didn’t interest her; but Rose was happy to know she caused him further discomfort before he left. Made her feel a little less irritated. She wanted to see how her favorite patient was doing; though she doubted his condition would have changed much in her brief absence. Still, she gave a curt knock and waited until she heard him say “Enter” before opening the door and crossing the threshold.


	19. Everything's Okay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rose makes breakfast and Harry gets more than just pancakes!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter title was inspired by the song "Everything's Okay" by Lenka. Because that song is addictive, cute and makes me think of these two! X3

They finished up their pancakes in remarkably comfortable and contented silence. Both Rose and Harry figured that things might have gotten a little awkward. But, when Rose tested the waters by breaking the quiet and asking for Harry’s tray, it was pretty obvious that all was well.

As soon as he heard Rose’s genial tone, he couldn’t help that sunny grin of his from shining brightly! For a moment they just smiled at one another… Then Rose turned her eyes away from him to watch what she was doing, as she gathered the trays together and turned to take them to the kitchen.

There wasn’t any real or serious conversation; nor was the subject about the whole sweet hug moment that they’d shared brought up that day. They watched what they found interesting on television (mostly cartoons) and she did her doctor-y stuff.

Rose had been quite glad for the pleasant silence though, as her mind was trying to figure out just what had come over her… and furthermore why she didn’t mind if it came over her again!

Okay, so it wasn’t all _that_ difficult to deduce, right? She had grown fond of Harry in their short time together, that’s all… But even though she had only known him face-to-face for a few days, there were the facts that she was on friendly terms with his distant father, and had the few memories of him that she had had time to look over; thanks to Fin.

So… she did sort of know him better than he knew her… And he seemed to be fond of her as well… so that was good… wasn’t it? But, what if it was just a phase or one of his moods? Or simply because he needed her while he was bed ridden? Would he toss her aside once he was well again? Ugh! Why did she have to have such a soft spot for cute, sweet beings like Harry and the symbiote?! They always tended to bring out that side of her that she usually did pretty good at keeping all cool and composed.

Mentally, Rose was banging her head against a wall, while the symbiote just watched in mild confusion and interest. Rose had never taken a fancy to someone before… well, not like this anyway… not… dare she say it? _Romantically_?!

The symbiote rolled it’s eyes at her emotional turmoil and blamed it all on Harry. In a way, she kind of blamed Harry too, but in a nice way because truth be told, she didn’t mind like the symbiote did.

 _‘Ugh… he just HAD to go and look all cute and vulnerable like that! How am I supposed to fight that?! Impossible I tell you! It’s like seeing a puppy in the rain, with one leg and not saying “Awwwww!”, y’know?’_ Rose inwardly groaned; currently watching Harry out of the corner of her eye instead of looking at the TV like she probably _should_ be doing.

 _‘We could always just kill him… wouldn’t our problems be over then? If he is not alive he cannot make our host so distress-ssed.’_ Fin suggested quaintly. Rose resisted the urge to roll her own eyes.

 _‘We’re **not** killing Harry. Honestly… you sound like Tabitha sometimes. No, I need to handle this like an adult with common sense. I think that I shouldn’t try to fight my feelings for him… just figure them out and act accordingly. I don’t want to end up finding out this has all just been for nothing… Y’know?’ _The symbiote wasn’t quite sure it fully understood, but it gave a nod; despite disliking the idea of _it’s_ host getting attached to the rich sociopath.

And so, the rest of the day went by rather smoothly. Well, except for when Rose offered to make lunch and Harry told her that Bernard could do it. She raised a curious brow at this, but didn’t press once she saw Harry’s faint blush.

Even though she’d left to go make pancakes earlier, he found that right now he didn’t want her to leave him. Even if it was just to go get lunch. He had a weird feeling that maybe the happy spell that seemed to settle in the room would break if her presence were absent. And he didn’t want that. He liked how things were.

Harry did stay in a good mood until later that evening though; when Rose was getting ready to leave for the night. He had similar feelings and thoughts that the raven haired doctor had been having.

He was starting to think that he liked her more than he should; but he wasn’t as comfortable about accepting this, since he kept thinking that it would turn out that she would only be interested in his money or not find him handsome because of the scar, or something along those self-depreciating lines.

When he saw Rose getting ready to leave, he couldn’t help the familiar feelings of panic settling in the pit of his stomach. He needed to do something… he just felt that he should before it was too late, and she’d be gone until tomorrow! But… what could he do? And then… an idea popped into his head.

“Hey Rose?” Harry tried to quell his emotions and try to “act casual” about what he planned to do.

“Yes?” Rose had just put the chart down for the last time that night and was now looking directly at Harry. He froze and for about a full minute, all he could do was stare at her and wonder why it was that every time she looked at him, he felt like the only person on the face of the Earth…

“I… um…” She waited patiently and wondered if he was okay.

“Do… you remember what… you said last night?” Rose looked thoughtful for a moment; trying to figure out what he was asking, while he started to feel all nervous and wondering if maybe he shouldn’t be doing this.

“I said a lot Harry… is this about your friend, Peter?” There were a lot of reasons he could be asking this and she was trying to be understanding, but he was starting to behave all shyly again; like when sponge baths had been mentioned on their first day. And it didn’t help that she was troubled by her own thoughts.

“N-no… not that. The… um…” He trailed off again and she tried to help him out.

“The thing about your wellbeing?” She offered, but he seemed to be getting a bit flustered; more by his own doing than her.

“No! Not that!” He sighed in exasperation and her eyes widened in realization as to what he was talking about. And though she didn’t mean too, Rose started to giggle! Harry looked taken aback as he stared at her; feeling embarrassed and flustered. He wondered what the heck was do damn funny.

“Harry… I haven’t even _left_ yet.” She put a hand to her lips to try and stifle her playful mirth. Harry could be so cute that it baffled and amused her!

“I-I know! Its just…” He trailed off; stiffly and sorely trying to huff and cross his arms over his bandaged chest, only to look more like he was pouting instead. Rose managed to put a lid on her giggles and looked right at him.

“Well then… which will it be, Harry?” The wounded pouter blinked and stared up at her in confusion. She rolled her eyes and smirked as she elaborated. The symbiont protested at this; reasoning that it might risk blowing their secret identity. But, so long as they were careful, Rose didn’t see the problem. Fin said “fine” but they’d need to stay in a separate room to be safe and that was good common sense, so she couldn’t argue with that.

“Do you want me to stay longer or spend the night?” Harry was dumbfounded; his arms slowly uncrossing and sliding back down to rest at his sides.

“I… I can really pick which?” Rose put a finger to her lips as she pretended to look thoughtful.

“Hmm… This time, yeah.” She said teasingly and he looked like the kid who just found the secret decoder ring in his fruity cereal!

“Then… I… Iwantyoutospendthenight!” Harry ended up blurting it out too fast for her to understand what the Hell he’d just said. She blinked and he took a deep breath to calm himself, but his excitement was pretty evident.

“I… I mean… I would like it if you spent the night!” Rose’s smirk widened as she bit her lip to keep from bursting out laughing at his level of adorability.

“I would very much like that.” She said warmly, and he looked all the happier for it; his stomach feeling all warm and squirmy! Rose picked up her backpack and slung it over her shoulder.

“Well, I guess I better go ask Bernard if there’s a spare room for me to crash in.” Harry frowned at her; seeming confused.

“Why would you do that?” His tone was innocent and curious. Rose blinked and eyed him warily.

“Beeeeecause I if I’m spending the night then I have to go to sleep eventually…” Harry’s frown deepened and he pouted again. Rose thought for a moment and asked her next question slowly and a tad suspiciously.

“Wait… you don’t expect me to sleep in _here…_ do you?!” Harry blushed as he averted his eyes.

“Not like what you’re thinking…”

“And what exactly do you think that I’m thinking?” Harry rubbed the back of his head.

“N-nothing bad, okay?! I just… wanted to… um…” His green eyes rested on her grey ones; looking almost pleading for her to understand what he was trying to say. Rose sighed and set the backpack down. She walked over to stand beside his bed so that she could look at him better.

“Is this about the hug earlier?” The fair physician had a feeling it might come up at some point. Harry nodded as his face turned a shade darker.

“I think… I understand now Harry…” A look of hope and a touch of relief swept over his features. She reached out and placed a hand on either of his bare shoulders; sliding them until her fingers could intertwine behind his head.

“Is this what you want…? Closeness?” Rose asked him in a voice just loud enough for him to hear; her voice lowering a little in a way that made his eyes widen and him feel all tingly! He nodded nervously; wondering why he so desperately craved her attention. Rose smiled understandably and gave a little sigh of defeat.

“Heh, well look at you… I recall a time not too long ago, when you were freaking out about me so much as touching you… and now you want me to spend the night just so you can be close to me.” She chortled softly and he couldn’t help smiling sheepishly.

“It’s weird… I know…” Harry tried to find the words to explain himself, but he found himself at a loss when he felt one of her hands gently cupping the scarred side of his face.

“I’m starting to think that you didn’t dislike my touch before, as you were just scared how much you _liked it._ ” Her thumb lightly caressed the blemished cheek and he briefly closed his eyes as he shivered.

“Does it hurt…?” She asked in concern. He swallowed and shook his head; not trusting his voice. Rose’s eyes crescented warmly at how endearingly vulnerable Harry was. If she wanted, they could so easily hurt him… Not just physically but in more permanent and painful ways.

But, she didn’t think she could do that to him… not to someone who was already so beautifully broken. Who was putting his faith in her that she wouldn’t hurt him and instead make him feel better… no… Rose wanted to mend him and keep him safe. Even if the symbiote kept telling her it didn’t like the idea of how close Harry was trying to get and how dangerous things could turn out; though it only said these things as it disliked the thought of anyone else sharing a bed with it’s host expect itself!

Harry leaned instinctively into her touch, only to make a cute little whine of protest when Rose suddenly drew her hand away. He pouted up at her; ready to question why she’d done that, when he heard a knock at the door and realized she must have heard the footsteps approaching. The young man gave a little growl as he exhaled.

“Come in.” When the elderly man entered, he seemed a bit taken aback by the bite in his young master’s tone. But upon seeing the good doctor’s averted gaze as she tried to look busy and the pink hue to her cheeks, he decided that he must have interrupted a moment between these two.

Any good butler worth his uniform could tell when there was a connection between their employer and someone else! Especially when the two seemed so oblivious to it themselves. However, to his delight, they seemed to be figuring things out! He hoped it worked out for them.

“My apologies Master Harry. But I wanted to tell you that I’m finished with my work for the evening, and ask if there was anything you might need?” Harry frowned thoughtfully. Bernard didn’t miss how those green eyes flicked over to Rose as he did so though.

“As a matter of fact Bernard, there is! You are dismissed for tonight.” The wrinkled man stared for a moment.

“You mean… you want me to go home, Sir?” He asked uncertainly. But Harry merely nodded.

“Yes. Please go home and enjoy a good nights rest.” Bernard stood frozen for a moment.

“But Sir, in your condition!?” The uncle figure tried to reason in a calm yet concerned tone, but Harry seemed quite firm and final with his decision.

“That’s already taken care of. Rose will be looking after me.” This was certainly unexpected! The old man couldn’t help smiling knowingly as he gave a nod in understanding.

“I don’t think I could leave you in more capable hands, Master Harry.” He said earnestly. Both Rose and Harry flushed a little at this and the butler had to keep himself from chuckling at the two of them as they shifted in embarrassment.

“Very well. Goodnight then Master Harry. And you too Dr. Aconitum.” He gave that little gentlemanly bow of his to each in turn.

“Goodnight Bernard.” Rose replied; trying to pretend that her eyes weren’t looking at his master the whole while she’d been acting busy.

“Get some rest.” Harry told him; a rather pleased grin spreading across his face as Bernard turned to leave. But the aged man had glimpsed it nonetheless, and as he closed the door behind him; he couldn’t help chuckling quietly to himself as he reached the elevator.

“Ahh, youth!” And he went home to get a good nights sleep; comforted by the thought that someone as caring and capable as Rose would be keeping a _close_ eye on Harry.

 


	20. So Beautifully Broken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Harry makes a sweet request and Bernard finds youth to be funny.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone who thinks that Harry is WAY too needy... well you'd probably be too if you were my version of him! LOL! But yeah, there really ARE people all needy/starving for affection like him. Except he's a cute little sociopath! Yay~!

They finished up their pancakes in remarkably comfortable and contented silence. Both Rose and Harry figured that things might have gotten a little awkward. But, when Rose tested the waters by breaking the quiet and asking for Harry’s tray, it was pretty obvious that all was well.

As soon as he heard Rose’s genial tone, he couldn’t help that sunny grin of his from shining brightly! For a moment they just smiled at one another… Then Rose turned her eyes away from him to watch what she was doing, as she gathered the trays together and turned to take them to the kitchen.

There wasn’t any real or serious conversation; nor was the subject about the whole sweet hug moment that they’d shared brought up that day. They watched what they found interesting on television (mostly cartoons) and she did her doctor-y stuff.

Rose had been quite glad for the pleasant silence though, as her mind was trying to figure out just what had come over her… and furthermore why she didn’t mind if it came over her again!

Okay, so it wasn’t all _that_ difficult to deduce, right? She had grown fond of Harry in their short time together, that’s all… But even though she had only known him face-to-face for a few days, there were the facts that she was on friendly terms with his distant father and had the few memories of him that she had had time to look over, thanks to Fin.

So… she did sort of know him better than he knew her… And he seemed to be fond of her as well… so that was good… wasn’t it? But, what if it was just a phase or one of his moods? Or simply because he needed her while he was bed ridden? Would he toss her aside once he was well again? Ugh! Why did she have to have such a soft spot for cute, sweet beings like Harry?! They always tended to bring out that side of her that she usually did pretty good at keeping all cool and composed.

Mentally, Rose was banging her head against a wall, while the symbiote just watched in mild confusion and interest. Rose had never taken a fancy to someone before… well, not like this anyway… not… dare she say it? _Romantically_?!

The symbiote rolled it’s eyes at her emotional turmoil and blamed it all on Harry. In a way, she kind of blamed Harry too, but in a nice way because truth be told, she didn’t mind like the symbiote did.

_‘Ugh… he just HAD to go and look all cute and vulnerable like that! How am I supposed to fight that?! Impossible I tell you! It’s like seeing a puppy in the rain, with one leg and not saying “Awwwww!”, y’know?’_

Rose inwardly groaned; currently watching Harry out of the corner of her eye instead of looking at the TV like she probably _should_ be doing.

 _‘We could always just kill him… wouldn’t our problems be over then? If he is not alive he cannot make our host so distress-ssed.’_ Fin suggested quaintly. Rose resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

_‘We’re **not** killing Harry. Honestly… you sound like Tabitha sometimes. No, I need to handle this like an adult with common sense. I think that I shouldn’t try to fight my feelings for him… just figure them out and act accordingly. I don’t want to end up finding out this has all just been for nothing… You know?’_

The symbiote wasn’t quite sure it fully understood, but it nodded/agreed with her anyway.

And so, the rest of the day went by rather smoothly. Well, except for when Rose offered to make lunch and Harry told her that Bernard could do it. She raised a curious brow at this, but didn’t press once she saw Harry’s faint blush.

Even though she’d left to go make pancakes earlier, he found that right now he didn’t want her to leave him. Even if it was just to go get lunch. He had a weird feeling that maybe that happy spell that seemed to settle in the room would break if her presence were absent. And he didn’t want that. He liked how things were.

Harry did stay in a good mood until later that evening though; when Rose was getting ready to leave for the night. He had similar feelings and thoughts that the raven haired doctor had been having.

He was starting to think that he liked her more than he should; but he wasn’t as comfortable about accepting this, since he kept thinking that it would turn out that she would only be interested in his money or not find him handsome because of the scar, or something along those self-depreciating lines.

When he saw Rose getting ready to leave, he couldn’t help the familiar feelings of panic settling in the pit of his stomach. He needed to do something… he just felt that he should before it was too late, and she’d be gone until tomorrow! But… what could he do? And then… an idea popped into his head.

“Hey Rose?” Harry tried to quell his emotions and try to “act casual” about what he planned to do.

“Yes?” Rose had just put the chart down for the last time that night and was now looking directly at Harry. He froze and for about a full minute, all he could do was stare at her and wonder why it was that every time she looked at him, he felt like the only person on the face of the Earth…

“I… um…” She waited patiently and wondered if he was okay.

“Do… you remember what… you said last night?” Rose looked thoughtful for a moment; trying to figure out what he was asking, while he started to feel all nervous and wondering if maybe he shouldn’t be doing this.

“I said a lot Harry… is this about your friend, Peter?” There were a lot of reasons he could be asking this and she was trying to be understanding, but he was starting to behave all shyly again; like when sponge baths had been mentioned on their first day. And it didn’t help that she was troubled by her own thoughts.

“N-no… not that. The… um…” He trailed off again and she tried to help him out.

“The thing about your wellbeing?” She offered, but he seemed to be getting a bit flustered; more by his own doing than her.

“No! Not that!” He sighed in exasperation and her eyes widened in realization as to what he was talking about. And though she didn’t mean too, Rose started to giggle! Harry looked taken aback as he stared at her; feeling embarrassed and flustered. He wondered what the heck was do damn funny.

“Harry… I haven’t even _left_ yet.” She put a hand to her lips to try and stifle her playful mirth. Harry could be so cute that it baffled and amused her!

“I-I know! Its just…” He trailed off; stiffly and sorely trying to huff and cross his arms over his bandaged chest, only to look more like he was pouting instead. Rose managed to put a lid on her giggles and looked right at him.

“Well then… which will it be, Harry?” The wounded pouter blinked and stared up at her in confusion. She rolled her eyes and smirked as she elaborated.

“Do you want me to stay longer or spend the night?” Harry was dumbfounded; his arms slowly uncrossing and sliding back down to rest at his sides.

“I… I can really pick which?” Rose put a finger to her lips as she pretended to look thoughtful.

“Hmm… This time, yeah.” She said teasingly and he looked like the kid who just found the secret decoder ring in his fruity cereal!

“Then… I… Iwantyoutospendthenight!” Harry ended up blurting it out too fast for her to understand what the Hell he’d just said. She blinked and he took a deep breath to calm himself, but his excitement was pretty evident.

“I… I mean… I would like it if you spent the night!” Rose’s smirk widened as she bit her lip to keep from bursting out laughing at his level of adorability.

“I would very much like that.” She said warmly, and he looked all the happier for it; his stomach feeling all warm and squirmy!

Rose picked up her backpack and slung it over her shoulder.

“Well, I guess I better go ask Bernard if there’s a spare room for me to crash in.” Harry frowned at her; seeming confused.

“Why would you do that?” His tone was innocent and curious. Rose blinked and eyed him warily.

“Beeeeecause I if I’m spending the night then I have to go to sleep eventually…” Harry’s frown deepened and he pouted again. Rose thought for a moment and asked her next question slowly and a tad suspiciously.

“Wait… you don’t expect me to sleep in _here…_ do you?!” Harry blushed as he averted his eyes.

“Not like what you’re thinking…”

“And what exactly do you think that I’m thinking?” Harry rubbed the back of his head.

“N-nothing bad, okay?! I just… wanted to… um…” His green eyes rested on her grey ones; looking almost pleading for her to understand what he was trying to say. Rose sighed and set the backpack down. She walked over to stand beside his bed so that she could look at him better.

“Is this about the hug earlier?” The fair physician had a feeling it might come up at some point. Harry nodded as his face turned a shade darker.

“I think… I understand now Harry…” A look of hope and a touch of relief swept over his features. She reached out and placed a hand on either of his bare shoulders; sliding them until her fingers could intertwine behind his head.

“Is this what you want…? Closeness?” Rose asked him in a voice just loud enough for him to hear; her voice lowering a little in a way that made his eyes widen and him all tingly! He nodded nervously; wondering why he so desperately craved her attention.

Rose smiled understandably and gave a little sigh of defeat.

“Heh, well look at you… I recall a time not too long ago, when you were freaking out about me so much as touching you… and now you want me to spend the night just so you can be close to me.” She chortled softly and he couldn’t help smiling sheepishly.

“It’s weird… I know…” Harry tried to find the words to explain himself, but he found himself at a loss when he felt one of her hands gently cupping the scarred side of his face.

“I’m starting to think that you didn’t dislike my touch before, as you were just scared how much you _liked it._ ” Her thumb lightly caressed the blemished cheek and he briefly closed his eyes as he shivered.

“Does it hurt…?” She asked in concern. He swallowed and shook his head; not trusting his voice. Rose’s eyes crescented in a warm at how endearingly vulnerable Harry was. If she wanted, she could so easily hurt him… Not just physically but in more permanent and painful ways.

But, she  didn’t think she could do that to him… not to someone who was already so beautifully broken. Who was putting his faith in her that she wouldn’t hurt him and instead make him feel better… no… Rose wanted to mend him and keep him safe.

Harry leaned instinctively into her touch, only to make a cute little whine of protest when Rose suddenly drew her hand away. He pouted up at her; ready to question why she’d done that, when he heard a knock at the door and realized she must have heard the footsteps approaching. The young man gave a little growl as he exhaled.

“Come in.” When the elderly man entered, he seemed a bit taken aback by the bite in his young master’s tone. But upon seeing the good doctor’s averted gaze as she tried to look busy and the pink hue to her cheeks, he decided that he must have interrupted a moment between these two.

Any good butler worth his uniform could tell when there was a connection between their employer and someone else! Especially when the two seemed so oblivious to it themselves. However, to his delight, they seemed to be figuring things out! He hoped it worked out for them.

“My apologies Master Harry. But I wanted to tell you that I’m finished with my work for the evening, and ask if there was anything you might need?” Harry frowned thoughtfully. Bernard didn’t miss how those green eyes flicked over to Rose as he did so though.

“As a matter of fact Bernard, there is! You are dismissed for tonight.” The wrinkled man stared for a moment.

“You mean… you want me to go home, Sir?” He asked uncertainly. But Harry merely nodded.

“Yes. Please go home and enjoy a good nights rest.” Bernard stood frozen for a moment.

“But Sir, in your condition!?” The uncle figure tried to reason in a calm yet concerned tone, but Harry seemed quite firm and final with his decision.

“That’s already taken care of. Rose will be looking after me.” This was certainly unexpected! The old man couldn’t help smiling knowingly as he gave a nod in understanding.

“I don’t think I could leave you in more capable hands, Master Harry.” He said earnestly. Both Rose and Harry flushed a little at this and the butler had to keep himself from chuckling at the two of them as they shifted in embarrassment.

“Very well. Goodnight then Master Harry. And you too Dr. Aconitum.” He gave that little gentlemanly bow of his to each in turn.

“Goodnight Bernard.” Rose replied; trying to pretend that her eyes weren’t looking at his master the whole while she’d been acting busy.

“Get some rest.” Harry told him; a rather pleased grin spreading across his face as Bernard turned to leave. But the aged man had glimpsed it nonetheless, and as he closed the door behind him; he couldn’t help chuckling quietly to himself as he reached the elevator.

“Ahh, youth!” And he went home to get a good nights sleep; comforted by the thought that someone as caring and capable as Rose would be keeping a _close_ eye on Harry.


	21. Come on Closer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rose ends up falling prey to her loving nature and Harry basks in it.

Rose turned to look at Harry and smiled when she saw how he was grinning in a childishly triumphant way at the door where Bernard had been moments ago.

“Well… I suppose I should go and get ready for bed. I’m glad I packed a spare pair of clothes for emergencies!” Harry turned his attention back to her at the sound of her speaking.

“You’re more than welcome to anything in my wardrobe.” He offered. And Rose thought for a moment.

_‘Well I can’t just wear my scrubs to bed… and the only clothing that I carry around is for work… so, I guess I should wear something of his for tonight?’_

_'Why can’t we just do what we always do?’_ Rose rolled her eyes mentally.

 _‘You know exactly **why**. Now don’t fight this or else he’ll get suspicious.’ _ She smiled at Harry. The symbiote gave a little huff. Oh great, now she was going to wear the Goblin Brat’s clothes too? It’d rather she stayed in another room and it was the one who clothed her!

“Thanks… I probably should wear something other than my work clothes to bed. They aren’t very comfy.” Rose blushed a little at the word “bed”, and so did Harry! Oh what were they getting into…?

“My sleepwear is usually in that dresser over there.” He told her as he pointed to it, and she gave a nod; clearing her throat.

“Right. Thank you.” Rose went over to said dresser and picked out an emerald T-shirt and a pair of dark green and black stripped pajama bottoms. She smirked at his taste in colors; finding them to her liking, but the whole Goblin thing still made her want to laugh.

She took the clothing and her bag to the bathroom; shutting the door behind her as she cleaned herself up for bed; glad that she DID in fact carry around a spare toothbrush and little toiletries as such in case she couldn’t get home or worked late and wanted to clean up to feel a little refreshed. Though, she hadn’t really thought any of this would have happened today…

Harry waited anxiously for her to come out of the bathroom; as he was still pretty nervous about this whole plan, and hoped that it wouldn’t backfire on him! The door opened and Rose came out wearing his clothes. He found himself stunned and staring again; the colors complimented her fair skin and black hair very well! And though they were baggy on her, he just thought that made her look even more cute!

“You look… nice…” He managed to say. She smiled.

“Thank you.” It was at this point that he realized Rose was carrying the usual tooth brush and items, Bernard would have brought for him to brush his teeth with, had he still been around since Harry was stuck in bed. Well, it only made sense that she took her job of watching over him seriously he supposed.

Rose helped him by holding the little spit basin and cup of water to rinse with. Then she took a warm wash cloth and cleaned his face for him; making him blush, but he still enjoyed the attention.

Once he finished with his bedtime routine, she put everything away, pulled back the covers on the opposite side, and crawled onto the spot on the bed beside Harry, where she sat for breakfast. Harry laid down nervously as Rose waited for him to get comfortable, before the young woman scooted up beside him.

She slid an arm across his midsection and he tensed for a few seconds. In the moment that Rose went to retract her limb, his hand moved to lightly grip her wrist and move it back to where it was. She felt a little relieved that he hadn’t freaked out yet. Rose was doing her best to take things as slowly and cautiously as she could. This whole romance thing was all quite new to her.

Her head rested beside his on the pillow and she shifted a little closer so that her check lay against his collar bone. But, despite the fact that Rose was now in the same bed as he was, and _so_ close beside him, under the covers… with her arm over his torso… the young Osborn found that he felt she could be a lot closer somehow.

“Rose…?”

“Yes?” He inhaled sharply when he felt her warm breath tickling his skin as she spoke.

“Do you… think maybe… you could move closer?” She looked up at him and he gazed into her pale grey eyes.

“Okay… but remember, _you_ _asked_.” Her tone was a touch joking as she withdrew her arm from his midriff. He frowned briefly at the loss of contact, but was more than pleasantly surprised when she moved so that his arm was now able to wrap around _her_ instead and that this allowed her to press the front of her body right up against the side of his!

Her face was now resting in the crook of where shoulder met neck, and her arm was lightly resting just above where his bandaged wound was; her hand cupping his cheek as her thumb softly stroked the unmarred flesh.

Harry couldn’t believe he felt a little sad that she wasn’t able to caress the scarred part of his face again, but he supposed there was only so much she could on this side, and also that she was already going beyond what a doctor would do for their patient. It then dawned on him…

 _‘Oh god…! What am I making her do?!’_ Harry tensed and Rose could feel his discomfiture. Her head rose up so that she could look at him; noticing the distraught expression on his face.

“Harry? What’s the matter? Did I do something wrong?” Green terror and shame filled eyes met hers and startled her a little.

“What? No! I’m the one doing wrong! I shouldn’t have you here doing this!” **There it is!** She’d had the sneaky suspicion that he was going to freak out at some point during the night. Well, she figured it was better than when she’d fallen asleep. Rose rolled her eyes and with the hand that cupped his cheek, she made him look at her.

“You _do_ realize that I’m not on the clock, right?” He gave an uncertain nod.

“Yeah bu-!” She cut him off by pressing a finger to his lips.

“AND, that I’m not doing this because I feel that I have to, but because _I want to_ , don’t you?” His eyes widened and he nodded again; more slowly this time.

“Then we’re okay. I’ve _never_ done anything like this; much less for a patient and I don’t do this for patients by the way… I think that should be made known to you. So, please don’t fret so much. Got it, Green Eyes?” Rose smiled and playfully poked his nose; causing him to smile and calm the heck down.

“Sorry…”

“It’s okay. You’re prone to mood swings… mainly panic attacks… but I don’t mind so long as it isn’t harming you.” Harry smiled. He was starting to feel really glad that he’d been so mortally wounded, for it meant that he was able to meet Rose.

“Now… quiet that worrying mind of yours and rest.” She rested her head back in the crook of his neck and nuzzled him before her mind even registered it. Harry tried to shift nearer to her when she did that.

“D-do that again…?” She smirked and tried not to laugh at his shy request.

“I think I may be spoiling you.” Rose nuzzled him again and he smiled like a contented kitten.

“And yet, somehow I think you’re enjoying this as much as I am.” Harry teased right back; enjoying the comforting affections she so kindly offered. 

She suddenly had a thought and decided to see where it led. The young woman pressed her lips against his throat, right against the pulse; she could feel the steady beat of his heart through the skin as she placed a kiss there. It caught Harry off guard but he didn’t protest. So, she did it again; this time giving the tender flesh a little nip.

This drew a gasp from Harry. Rose figured she’d already thrown caution to the winds, so why not see what else she could do that Harry liked? But, she had to be careful since he was still recovering.

She could hear the symbiote in her mind give a little grumble and it seemed to be trying to ignore what was going on; which made her feel a little bad that it felt jealous… but the alien had no body of it’s own technically, and thusly she could not shower it with affection like she could Harry and could only care about it in her own way… though, seeing as it still hadn’t decided on bonding with her permanently or not still gave her pause about how attached to it she should get… then again it was pretty much the same deal with Harry in that regard as well… he could just as easily burn her too!

All she could do was try and see what happened; treading cautiously and using as much common sense as she could, given how randomly things could happen and how unpredictable feelings and life in general were.

A trail of light nips and kisses slowly trailed from his neck to the jaw line of the scarred part of his face and he froze; not quite sure what she was planning to do. He hadn’t realized that, at some point he had closed his eyes.

Grey orbs examined the scarred skin before she leaned in and ever so gently, placed a ghost of a kiss to his cheek. Harry felt his face flush and a weird fluttery feeling in his stomach. She’d just kissed his scar! The thing that he’d been fretting about and was, himself repulsed by, ever since he’d unintentionally acquired it!

It was a mark that he thought would make him unattractive and unlovable at best! But, here was a lovely young woman who was placing tender little pecks on it! Go figure…

Harry hummed happily; his arm wrapping around her waist to hold her close. The heat of her body felt _so-ooo good_ against his. He’d been so blissful, that when Rose placed a sweet little kiss over the lid of his blind eye, he hadn’t been able to suppress a small moan that escaped his lips.

Rose paused in her ministrations when she heard the sound. She _liked_ that, and wanted to hear him make that sound for her again! So, she placed another kiss to his closed eye. Harry bit the inside of his lip; trying not to moan again for fear it made him sound lame, as the luscious texture of her lips caressed the extra sensitive flesh.

“ _Harry_ … Don’t do that. I like the way you sound.” He shivered at the sound of her whispering in a sultry way into his ear; her warm breath tickling him. The poor guy nearly let out a yelp of shock when he felt the tip of her tongue flick against the shell. It seemed Rose was having fun, but Harry found he _really_ didn’t feel like scolding or stopping her anytime soon.

Thankfully she’d managed to have the symbiote go to sleep so that she wouldn’t have to deal with it grumbling and nagging at her to behave. She wasn’t doing this to be lusty or something like that, and even Harry knew that.

This was strictly her showing him affection. In a weird way… they both needed this. Rose had always had a loving nature with no one to show it too (except Fin, but she could only care for the symbiote in a limited number of ways… and bonding with it was, in her mind, a different kind of connection between two beings.) And Harry seemed the right person for this. After all… there were many different kinds of love in the universe, and each one was just as special as the last.

The raven haired lass flicked the tip of her tongue around his eye, cheek and jaw; delicately tracing over the marred skin like an artist would their paintbrush over a canvas. Harry made little groans and gasps as she lavished him so lovingly. His breathing was starting to become irregular, though Rose’s wasn’t as calm either.

The green eyed youth reached up with his free hand and ran his fingers through her hair. Rose thought that felt quite nice and when he did it again, she showed her appreciation with another little kiss to his eyelid.

Harry licked his lips and intertwined his long fingers in those silky black locks; inhaling her alluring scent. If he already knew it wasn’t possible, he would’ve thought that he might melt at any moment… and in his mind, it wouldn’t have been a bad way to go!

But a hunger began to gnaw at him, and using the leverage of his hand in her hair, he gave her a little tug. She paused for a moment; surprised by the action, but she was pretty sure she got the meaning behind it by the way he’d done it.

Those green eyes stared up at her; half lidded and just a touch predatorial. Rose couldn’t help smirking a little, as she hovered over her destination to stare into those mesmerizing eyes of his, before she leaned in that last fraction of an inch and their lips met in a chaste kiss!

Each thoroughly enjoyed the feel of the other’s mouth as the kiss grew a little more passionate with each passing second. Rose’s hand cupped that handsomely angular cheek of his, as his held gingerly onto the back of her head; making sure she didn’t break the kiss until they had to pull apart for air. Not that she had any intention to do so.

Hot, minty breath mingled as mouths parted _just_ _enough_ to secure that life giving oxygen their lungs required. Green and grey gazed passionately and fondly into each other; lost in the intense and fascinating sensations each so willingly offered the other.

“R-Rose…” Harry panted in a breathless whisper; moving his hand to, in turn hold her cheek.

“Yes Harry?” Rose inquired in a similar manner, as she lightly grasped his hand on her face and turned her head just so, so that she could placed a little kiss on Harry’s thumb. The young man gulped as his resolve wavered.

_‘Damn she’s sexy…’_

“I think… we should probably slow down…” For a brief moment he saw a glimmer of hurt in those pale grey orbs and he felt a pain in his heart. He stroked her cheek with his thumb sweetly.

“It’s not why you think. It’s just that… well…” He suddenly blushed in embarrassment, and she wondered if she would ever stop thinking that was adorable.

“I’m not really… in the right condition… you know?” Realization dawned on the fine physician as she smirked sheepishly.

“Sorry… I guess I got a little caught up, huh?” Harry grinned and placed a peck on her nose.

“We both did.” Rose’s expression warmed as she reached up to brush his hair back off of his forehead.

“Okay then. We should probably stop here and try to get some sleep.” She mused in amusement.

“Sounds good to me.” Rose leaned in and gave him a chaste kiss on the lips before snuggling back to the position where her face rested in the warm crook of his neck again; their arms wrapped around one another as they lay there comfortably.

“Goodnight Harry.” She murmured into his skin; closing her eyes.

“Goodnight Rose…” Harry said as he did the same. For once, he didn’t feel alone or like an unlovable monster, or a mistake… he was secure and his mind at ease. He buried his nose in her hair and, after a few minutes, both of them had calmed down and fallen into a peaceful sleep…

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> X3 OH! I had so much fun writing this chapter! So much cuteness and kissing! I hope it was just as enjoyable to read!


	22. Good Morning, Sunshine!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Harry gets to play "Doctor"... or a much more fun variation of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love how Harry is so attention starved! LoL I've always seen him like that and I've known people who are almost as bad as (if not worse) than he is! XD At least with Rose he gets to do fun stuff though and get all the affection/attention he wants/needs!
> 
> Plus, it's fun that the symbiote is trying to learn about the confusing beings known as humans... and all that fun stuff!

It was fairly early in the morning still, as Rose lay awake; deep in thought as she basked in the comforting physical contact of the man who was fast asleep beside her. The young man was all blissfully unaware of the thoughts that buzzed in her mind.

It wasn’t that she was troubled about how impulsive she’d been last night… okay, maybe just a _little_ … but in truth, having a tendency to be impulsive had always been an issue of hers. Though, she’d never really had much of a problem with it in the past when it came to romance. But, the young woman did not think that last night had been a mistake at all!

So what was really on her mind? Well… now that she was growing to accept her feelings for Harry, she found herself wanting him to get better quicker so that he wouldn’t have to suffer. _Yes,_ she had felt bad for him before… but now that they were probably… or rather she hoped that they might be doing this again, that she could try to take advantage of the opportunity!

However, she needed to be very careful! For you see, Rose intended to give his slow healing factor a little boost when ever he was asleep! But, if she wasn’t careful, the process might cause him pain and wake him; thus possibly leading to complications that the physician didn’t think they were ready to deal with right now.

Healing someone wasn’t necessarily as easy as most people thought it might be. The persons body would feel the pain from the mending in a much more obvious way than they would normally! It’s why Rose would have to take precautions… and do it stealthily while he was asleep, and had pain medication in his system.

And right now, the young woman was doing her best to concentrate on her own power to help him heal little by little. She focused mainly on the bones in his arms, legs and the rest of the remaining fractured areas; that were still mending for now.

The young woman couldn’t help smirking at how protective she’d become of the other though… but that’s what happened when she became attached to someone! Unlike with the symbiote or even her little sisterly figure Tabitha, it felt _different_ with Harry.

With Tabitha, it was more of how one would care about their sibling; obviously. With the symbiote, while she wanted to protect it and help to mend it’s broken heart and such, Rose couldn’t help feeling protected by and taken care of by Fin in a lot of ways… which was quite comforting and very much welcomed in her mind, and she thought quite fondly of the alien for that.

It watched over her and like last night, it saved her from having bad dreams so she could sleep peacefully and not worry about waking up Harry. And should she ever feel upset or wake up from one of those horrid nightmares, it was right there to soothe her. Never had she felt so secure…

When it came to Harry, she was the one who cared for him and made sure everything was okay. The one to bandage his wounds; both physical, mental and even emotional and help him heal.

It was rather complicated and decidedly difficult to try and think about though, as it was still early and she just wanted to enjoy the peace and contentment, of waking up to someone who enjoyed your company to the point that they almost had a panic attack at the thought of your absence. Heh, so cute…

Rose went to move her hand, so that she could rub the sleep out of her eye, but she then realized that, at some time while they had slept, Harry had taken her hand in his and entwined their fingers!

 _‘If I had a nickel for every insanely adorable thing he did…’_ She smirked and shut her eyes.

 _‘We’d have a nickel.’_ Fin snarked and Rose rolled her eyes.

 _‘You’re gonna have to get used to it, Fin. I **like** my gorgeous little Goblin!’ _ Rose chuckled inwardly.

 _‘We still don’t trus-ssst him…’_ It hissed quietly but clearly enough for her to hear; apparently not very pleased with the intimate nature that transpired last night.

 _‘Yeah, yeah I get that. And I don’t blame you. I appreciate that you are looking out for me and all, but at least **try** , hmm?’ _There was a moment of silence before the begrudging and very pouty tone of Fin replied.

_‘Oooh… Fine!’_

_‘Thank you, my gooey friend.’_

_‘We’re only doing it for us… nothing more.’_

_‘Heheheh, whatever you say!’_ There was a moment of silence and she could almost see the symbiote sulking with it’s arms crossed over it’s chest.

 _‘Thanks again for the peaceful sleep… I know you didn’t have to Fin, but I appreciate it that you did.’_ This thankfully seemed to cheer up the alien a little.

 _‘… Our host needs rest to be happy… nightmares must not be troubles-sssome, so we get rid of them.’_ The symbiont said slowly; as if thinking carefully about how it wanted to phrase it’s response. Rose thought it was very sweet, and made sure Fin knew just how much she appreciated it via their link.

As she felt the black goo give a little wriggle where it hid underneath of her under things, Rose blushed as she gave a little gasp in surprise! There was a pause between them, as the symbiote liked her reaction but wasn’t quite sure what to make of it or why it did… and a few other confusing things that made it feel like a human would when blushing; or so it had experienced through it’s hosts.

Rose couldn’t help empathizing a little; though she better understood why she felt the way she did and couldn’t help finding the alien to be ever endearing, so she decided to break the silence by turning her attention back to Harry.

 _‘Hmm… you know, I think it’s time we wake up sleeping beauty.’_ Rose smirked mischievously as she carefully lifted her head to look at Harry’s sweet, slumbering face. The symbiont sighed and wondered why humans had to be so befuddling…

Harry awoke to the pleasant feeling of feather light touches to his mouth. He gave a groggy little groan as his eyes fluttered open; blinking and trying to adjust to the morning light. The smiling image of Rose’s face met his gaze, and for a moment he was pretty surprised; having thought perhaps he’d dreamed it all up!

But here she was, leaning down to give him another light peck on the lips; though this one had just a touch more pressure to it. Green eyes fluttered closed at the contact as she started up her little shower of kisses again.

“Good… Morning... Harry.” She said; a placing a gentle peck after each word.

“ _Mmfh_ …! M-morning, Rose.” He managed to say breathlessly in-between her ministrations; his hand slid out of her grasp and found its way back into her hair. Pressing lightly to ask for more, and she was certainly happy to oblige.

After a few minutes of this, they pulled apart for air. Rose smirked in a rather cocky way as she rested her chin on the palm of her hand; her elbow resting beside Harry’s head, on the pillow.

“Sleep well, Sunshine?” She asked; watching as Harry lazily twirled a lock of her hair between his fingers; feeling rather laid back this morning.

“Mhmm! Did you?”

“Yes, it was… refreshing!” Yes, she decided that was the right word. Harry smiled.

“Maybe… we could do it again?” He asked shyly; though she did notice how he seemed a little more confident. Perhaps he was getting accustomed to being around her? That was a positive sign at least. Rose leaned down to put a smooch right on his scarred cheek that made him feel all warm and tingly.

“All you had to do was ask, Harry.” The good doctor said sweetly and earnestly. Then, she looked a tad thoughtful as she looked to the clock on the wall.

“Hey… just wondering, but when does Bernard usually come into work?” Green orbs widened a fraction in slight shock. He had COMPLETELY forgotten about the kindly old man… and… well, pretty much everything besides Rose.

He turned his head to glance at the clock too, and sighed in relief, because having Bernard; a man who was the closest thing he had to family now, accidentally walking in on this would probably be embarrassing as Hell for both of them!

“Hmm, we still have time. I don’t think he’ll be here for a while yet.” He directed his attention back to the lovely young woman beside him. Though Harry felt decidedly sore, for reasons he wasn’t quite sure, he had to admit it wasn’t as bad as yesterday.

“Oh? And just what would you like to do with our spare time?” Harry laughed softly and pulled her down for another kiss, before easing her back.

“Just enjoying your pleasurable company Rose… that’s all.” To his shock and delight, she blushed and was quite touched by his honesty and innocence. Rose merely gave a little nod and rested back against him; nuzzling his neck fondly.

A pleasant quiet fell over them. Harry’s fingers fondled her raven strands with one hand, as his other rested on her hip. He moved his thumb over the fabric of the pajama bottoms and to the waistband. What he hadn’t expected was that he felt skin just above the clothed bit of elastic rather than the shirt that should have been there; the garment must have slid up a little from her movement.

His hand froze for a moment and then the former villain decided that if Rose could so kindly touch him, then why couldn’t he return the favor…? His thumb brushed over her side; slowly traveling up about an inch, until he felt the soft cotton of the T-shirt she wore. Rose gave a little giggle as it had tickled. A devilish smirk played on his lips. His fingers reached the hem of the shirt and slid underneath of it; causing her to gasp softly.

“Harry… what are you doing?” She asked a tad suspiciously. He kissed the top of her head reassuringly.

“If you must know… I have no idea.” Rose glanced up at him and saw he was still smirking; his hand caressing over her side and stomach. A blush heated her cheeks.

“Feels like you’re _exploring_ …” The young woman seemed to be considering something for a moment; her eyes closing briefly at the nice little sensations his touching caused. But, she merely bit her lip and figured it might not be best to suggest what was in her mind right now.

The symbiote of course advised against letting the Goblin brat touch it’s host anymore, but since her feelings were being shared with the alien and it felt all the nice sensations that she did, was Rose able to reason with it that she was exploring her feelings for Harry and the other was merely doing the same. It was just something that humans did when they share such emotions for one another. This left the symbiont very thoughtful… so it decided to merely observe such a custom.. Even if it didn’t quite like the idea of whom Rose was engaging in such odd activities with. It wasn’t like it could take over her body as it was able to do with Eddie or Spider-Man… and even then that had its limits.

Since Harry had to lie on his back and it hurt to try and turn, he was pretty limited to just the one hand around her waist in regards to being able to explore under her top. And this was starting to frustrate him…!

It wasn’t like he was trying to get this to lead to sex or anything, in fact that thought hadn’t even occurred to him. It’s just that he had the urge to feel more of the temptingly smooth and warm flesh that hid beneath the thin layer of green cloth.

And when Harry couldn’t even reach passed the few inches above her waistline, he emitted a low and pouty growl of vexation! Rose sighed and moved to sit up; gingerly taking the hand from around her waist, that was trying to prevent her from getting up, and regarding the somewhat distressed young man.

“Harry… If you keep looking at me like that… I don’t think there’s a thing in this world that I’d deny you.” Rose laughed lightheartedly. Harry blinked and blushed, and though he was quite moved, he was still a bit upset that he was so damn restricted.

 _‘Stupid chest wound!’_ Harry growled internally. Though, his attention returned quickly when he felt a shifting on the bed, and he saw that Rose moved to sit back on her legs. He thought that maybe she was getting ready to leave.

“W-where are you going? Did I do something wrong?!” He asked anxiously and she chortled again.

“No. But then again, I’m pretty biased at this point… I’m just trying to help you. Sit up, ok?” Rose told him simply. He gave her an uncertain nod and she helped him into a sitting position. Pink tinted her cheeks as she moved over Harry as if to sit on his lap; her legs on either side of his as she lightly straddled his hips. Needless to say his mouth was agape as he realized what she was doing.

He gasped softly at the feel of her slender, clothed legs on either side of his very unclothed ones; and he wished she would just sit in his lap instead of hovering over it about an inch or so. Though, he was glad for once that there was at least some barrier between them in the form of the blankets that covered his lower half.

“So… ahem…” She cleared her throat, trying to keep from blushing so badly, as she saw his rather awestricken expression. His eyes met hers and she felt a pleasant tingle run down her spine.

“I-if you want… now you can reach me better.” Rose was glad she’d had years of keeping her composure and all, but shyness still betrayed her voice, and this did not go unnoticed by Harry. He was pretty bashful too, but it made him feel better to know that he wasn’t the only one.

“Oh? And is this _only_ because I want to touch you? No other reason?” The youth questioned coyly. He made no move to try and get under her shirt again, but she noticed how his fingers gave an involuntary little twitch as he spoke. Rose took both of his hands in hers and placed a kiss on the palm of each one; her starry grey orbs meeting his emerald green ones as she did so.

“No. It isn’t _just_ because of that… And this isn’t between a patient and a doctor, Harry. This is just you and I.“ Her tone was sensually low yet also serious.

“I’ve grown very fond of you as a person, and I’d like for us to become closer, if you want too as well… do you understand what I’m saying?” Harry was stunned as he tentatively nodded. She smiled a little before being serious again.

“But! If you want, we can stop and pretend it never happened. Its up to you.” Rose held his hands in hers as she watched him processed this. She really hoped that they could have a relationship that was more than just patient and doctor… And he did too.

That’s why he pulled her hands to his lips and placed a chaste and rather gentlemanly kiss on the back of each one. Harry looked her right in the eyes; that devilish smirk back on his face as he felt a small burst of confidence fill him.

“If this is your way of asking to go steady with me, then the answer is a resounding, _Hell yes_!” Rose looked at him for a split second before laughing. So much for having been all serious. Oh well, she liked that he could be as lighthearted as her.

“Good! And now that that is settled… shall we get back to playing “Doctor”?” She asked in cheery spirits. Harry frowned in confusion.

“I thought you said you weren’t doing this as a doctor?” The ravenette shook her head and smirked.

“Oh, but I’m not. _You’re_ the one examining _me._ ” Rose corrected him impishly and then it clicked as to what she meant.

“Ooooooooh…! I see… Well then! I think we should start with a little disrobing! Please take off your top, Miss.” Harry grinned and she shook her head; trying not to laugh as she played along.

“Yes, _Doctor._ ” Rose grasped the hem of her shirt and pulled it up over her head in a teasingly slow manner. Blushing at the intense gaze that Harry fixated upon her; the only thing covering her torso now was a lacy black bra.

She always tried to wear undergarments in case she was ever separated from the symbiote; because having to end up naked when you least expected it just wasn’t cool… unless it was in front of Harry, she decided.

Unfortunately, for her, at the very moment he’d watched her taking off her T-shirt, his mind seemed to be having some sort of Rose related fangasm. Because seeing her in a sexy, lacy black bra and his pajama pants hadn’t quite hit him until now.

 _‘Oh god… Rose… is shirtless and straddling my lap! **Rose**. Is. SHIRTLESS! Damn… I think my brain just broke…’ _ Harry thought as he continued to stare, and Rose waited as patiently as she could. She was beginning to feel more self-conscious by the second, what with that wanton look he had.

“H-Harry?” He seemed to snap out of his thoughts a little as he gazed up at her face in a daze.

“Hmmmmmm?” The young lass blushed.

“Are you just going to stare at me?” Rose tried to sound playful, but it wavered a little; wanting for him to touch her already. The waiting and intense staring did nothing but cause her to feel all warm and fluttery.

“Well this is an _examine._ But, if you’re getting a little impatient, _my dear_ patient, I do believe we can start the physical.” The former villain smirked smugly as he reached forward and rested a hand on either side of her hips.

He let his hands roam up her sides and then to her back, where they slid back down again. Enjoying the tender, warm flesh under his hands. His eyes flicked up to see that Rose’s eyes were closed and she was leaning into his touch.

 _‘I wonder…’_ His thought trailed off as his fingers caressed up to lightly cup her breasts. Grey eyes snapped open as a shuddering gasp escaped those luscious rosy lips.

 _‘So knew that would get a reaction!’_ A Cheshire grin formed on his lips. He gave her ample bosom a playful squeeze; enjoying how they were soft yet firm. Then again, with a shapely body like that, he figured she must take good care of herself. His ministrations elicited a soft moan from her that caused a strange stirring within him. He felt heat in his face as he stared for a moment in disbelief.

 _‘Did she just… because of what I…?’_ The young woman murmured a cute little sound of protest when he stopped squeezing to just stare at her.

“Harry… _please_?” Her hands reached up and clasped over his to make him do it again. That had felt _really_ good when he’d done that, and at this point she was just basking in the sweet sensations and ministrations.

Seeing this definitely turned his face five shades darker, as his heart rate increased. He tried to compose himself and focus on the task at hand… or rather the tasks in hand… or hands… whatever!

The young man ran his thumbs in a circular motion over the lacy garment and had been so fascinated by how, at the center of each, something began to feel a little firmer the more attention he gave it, that he nearly jumped when she mewled sensually and leaned forward.

The symbiote; who hid just underneath of the lacy garment when it felt Harry touching her there, and between what she was feeling and how it was unknowingly caressed by the human boy, couldn’t but be shocked that it did all indeed feel rather _pleasant_ … though it would probably never admit it to it’s host…

Harry didn’t know Rose was capable of making such a melodious sound, but he wanted to hear more. He leaned toward her a little so that their foreheads touched and their lips were about an inch apart. His voice a low, breathy little growl.

“Sing for me some more.” As he spoke, she shivered at the way he sounded, and her breath caught in her throat. His fingers ever so lightly pinched her nipples through the material. It was enough that she cried out again in pleasure; attempting to bite her lower lip in order to keep quiet.

“Uh, uh, uh.” He taunted huskily as he leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers; relishing his newfound control over such an enchanting beauty. Though, it was mostly because she was enjoying it too.

“I want to hear that _pretty_ voice of yours, Rose.” Her breathing came out in soft pants against his smirking lips, as he too struggled to contain his own erratic breaths. But, she was making it quite the task for him.

“ _Mmfh_ …! _H-Harry_ …” Rose gasped as he gave her another pinch; this one a bit harder than the last. He was having fun seeing her reactions, especially since he knew that he was the cause of them!

“Yes?” He kissed her; gently nipping at her bottom lip and making her gasp again. He was _very_ caught up in what he was doing… and particularly, with _whom_. But, Rose reached her hands up again and rested them on his. Harry frowned and tried to move them away, but this time she showed resistance.

“Harry… as fun as this is… we need… to stop…” The poor, bliss addled young woman managed to say breathlessly.

“But I’m not done with the _mammogram_ yet…” He teased in a cocky way, as he squeezed her breasts a little harder; his thumbs flicking over the thinly covered and delightfully sensitive nubs. She pressed her lips hotly against his to stifle her moan. Harry frowned in a pouting way and pulled back.

“Now what’d I say about that?” His tone was a tad scolding, but Rose looked at him pleadingly. This caused him to regain his sense a little and he quirked a brow.

“Bernard’s here…” Rose was just barely able to tell him; her voice hushed and warning, which explained her previous actions. Having never been touched and tended to in such a manner before, she was _quite_ sensitive; most notably with the way he handled and spoke to her.

If she didn’t know it then, she definitely knew it now; Harry Osborn was indeed a man of many sides. But thankfully, she was able to pull herself together enough to not only keep an ear open for when the butler arrived, but also to tell the affection greedy little Goblin when he did.

“Damn it!” Harry growled quietly, the angry tone made her lean in and give him a little smooch to try and console him.

“Cheer up, Sunshine. We can always continue another time!” She told him in a voice just for him to hear. And he brightened and met her mischief filled eyes with his own.

“Well then! We’ll just have to push your appointment to a later time then.” Rose gave a mock roll of her eyes at the fact that he was still playing “Doctor”.

“If you say so, Green Eyes.” Harry laughed softly.

“That’s Doctor Green Eyes to you, Missy!” He corrected her airily. She stuck her tongue out at him and he laughed again, before she carefully removed herself from his lap. Harry made a little whine of protest, even though he knew she had to go and get cleaned up before ol’ Bernard came to check on him.

Personally, Harry didn’t think the butler would be too pleased to see Harry and his doctor fondling one another. Although, unbeknownst to him, Bernard would’ve just been glad Harry was busy playing with Rose’s breasts than his pumpkin bombs. Besides, the old man wanted him to find someone nice, and as far as he knew, he thought Rose was very good for Harry.

 _‘Heh, if **only** he knew just **how** good she is…’ _ Harry thought happily, as he stared at the closed bathroom door; waiting for Rose to come back out. And when she did; all clean and ready for work, he pouted in disappointment at how her delicate, ivory skin was now almost all covered up by her clothing. It made him wish he had one of his razor sharp pumpkin blades to slice it all to shreds!

Rose smiled genially at him; though the dark and hateful pouty look he was directing at her white coat was dully noted, even if she wasn’t sure exactly why. She helped him brush his teeth and wash his face again. And just as she came back from putting the hygiene items away, there was that familiar knock at the door!

 


	23. Promises, Promises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Harry gains disdain for Rose's work clothes and Rose makes a deal with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah... I knoooooow... the romance between these two (technically three) is oddly light (in my mind I guess) and a bit of a tease since they keep getting interrupted by stuff. Lmfao but just wait for it! XD The story is still young! They're just two young people of the opposite sex (and a confused/nascent/lacking in knowledge of humans, etc.) who haven't been exposed to real love and are just being their crazy selves (because in case no one noticed, Harry and the symbiote really are insane LoL). 
> 
> And the symbiote seems to be getting along well with Rose. Yay Character Development!

_‘Damn, I’m good! Timed that just right!’_ The symbiote scoffed at her triumphant tone.

 _‘Oh please! If it wasn’t for us giving the warning, we’d still be all caught up in getting Goblin Groped.’_ Rose could feel it shaking it’s head and she had to try not to laugh as the door opened and Bernard stepped into the room. The good doctor noticed that he looked like he’d gotten some rest. All that fretting over Harry must have taken a toll on him. The poor guy.

“Good morning, Master Harry, Dr. Aconitum.” Bernard said kindly as he came in. He noticed how much brighter the young master was looking this morning, and felt a small sense of relief and much gratitude toward the woman whom he was very sure was responsible for that; who kindly replied with a “Good morning” of her own as she set about to work.

“Morning Bernard. Have a good night?” Harry asked with a smile; even if he was still a little irked about her clothes…

“Indeed I did, Sir. Did your evening go well? I do hope Dr. Aconitum was quite comfortable?” At this he noticed a pink hue grace her cheeks as she saw the knowing grin Harry flashed her way; thinking the butler didn’t see their little exchange, but not much got passed him despite his age.

“I thought it went better than expected, don’t you Rose?” It seemed Harry was having trouble keeping from smiling so much and making the butler suspicious. Thankfully, Rose seemed a bit better at composing herself… well Harry could be too, he just didn’t feel like it.

“Yes, Harry. It was quite nice.” She replied politely. At her response, Harry tried to keep from pouting. He couldn’t make a comment at the moment though because they had a one man audience, who was calmly watching their conversation with mild amusement; understanding for the most part the meanings behind what they said.

“Very good then, Sir. Is there anything I can do for you this morning?” The wealthy youth glanced over at the clock and frowned. He should probably be calling in to work soon to make sure everything was going as it should.

“Hmm, I think perhaps breakfast and then I will call into OsCorp.” He said in a calm and slightly businesslike manner.

“Yes, Sir.” Bernard gave a polite little bow and Harry gave him the gesture to know he was dismissed. Rose watched from behind her clipboard; seeing how used to having a servant Harry was and how he thankfully treated her differently.

Heck, he treated her better than any patient she’d ever had, come to think of it… then again that might be because he liked her since they first met, and just didn’t really realize it until recently. She couldn’t help smirking to herself at how she knew Tabitha had something similar happening to her.

“Y’know… I’m starting to think you like that clipboard more than me.” Came the half jokingly pouty tone of one Harry Osborn. Rose turned to look at him. He had his arms crossed over his bandaged chest; looking a little huffy from the lack of attention he apparently required a LOT of.

“Oh, I _doubt_ that’s possible.” She told him; realizing that they were alone again. Bernard must have left while she was caught up in her thoughts. The white coat clad physician strolled over to the machine beside Harry’s bed to jot down her findings. But a soon as she got close enough, in a mixture of swiftness and finesse, he grasped her wrist in one hand and spun her around to face him; as his other hand crept underneath the long sleeve shirt and scrub top she had on!

The material rose and exposed her taut stomach as that devilish hand of his found its way back to her breast. The whole act having caught her completely off guard; much to her surprise, though it wasn’t exactly an unwelcome action.

The doctor bit her bottom lip to suppress a cute little yelp of shock and the mewl of pleasure that quickly followed when she felt his hand on her chest again. He frowned; having wanted to hear her since he doubted Bernard would’ve been able to hear her all the way in the kitchen.

The symbiote couldn’t help it’s urge to attack the cocky human for grabbing and treating it’s host in such a manner! But, it had told Rose that it would _try_ to behave and also it would probably not bode well for it’s pretty physician if it exposed itself… especially and quite sadly when Rose didn’t seem to mind like it did.

“H-Harry…!” Rose blushed as she tried to sound scolding. Harry merely gave her a look of mock innocence; like he hadn’t and currently wasn’t securely holding her by the wrist close to where he sat as he fondled _his_ lovely Rose’s nicely firm chest pillow.

“What?”

“You know exactly _what_! If Bernard comes back and sees us… won’t it embarrass you?” She asked in a hushed tone; the lass didn’t want to cause problems for him. Harry caught her choice phrasing.

“Wait… what about you?” She thought for a moment only to end up closing her eyes for a second as she leaned into his caressing.

“C-could you please… _not_ do that for a minute? Its really tough to concentrate like this…” Harry feigned a look of consideration.

“You mean _this_?” He emphasized the last word with a devious grope that made her breath hitch.

“Y-yes… _that_.” Harry smirked and used his hold on her wrist to pull her further toward him, so that their noses were almost touching.

“ _Only,_ if you promise to spend tonight _and_ tomorrow night here with _me_.” He bargained in a low, impish voice. Rose smiled and leaned in to plant a fond kiss on his scarred cheek that made him blush a little.

“And if I refuse?” The woman teased, even though they both knew she had no intention of doing so. She just wanted the fun of a little challenge and to see what he’d do. And Harry was more than happy to play along too.

“Then I’m afraid I’ll just keep this up until you comply.” To make sure Rose got the point, he gave one of her soft nipples a little pinch through the fabric. She gasped and he grinned.

“Ooh… you _are_ a cruel boy.” He couldn’t help taking a little pride in that and brushed his nose lightly against hers.

“Mhmm, and you’re stalling.” A smirk tugged at the corners of her lips and she looked him right in the eye.

“Well, I guess I really have no choice then. It’s not like I can miss my _appointment_ this evening anyway.”

“True. Not like I’d let you either.” He reluctantly relinquished his hold on her tantalizingly fun bit of flesh and retracted his hand from underneath her shirt, but he did not let go of her wrist. And he was glad that she didn’t mind. Harry needed to be touching her somehow, and this would do for now.

“So, a deals a deal. Answer my earlier question please.” His tone had gone back to its usual calm and sunny one, as if nothing had happened, and she was able to get a grip on herself again as well, since Harry didn’t distract her with his own form of “gripping”.

“It doesn’t really bother me whether he knows or not. He seems nice enough to understand, I think… but you know him better than I, so the choice is up to you. After all, didn’t we agree to change our status earlier?” Harry blinked in realization. It seemed he had forgotten all about that!

 _‘Ugh! Dumbass! How could I forget something as important as Rose becoming **my** girlfriend?!’ _He mentally reprimanded himself.

“Oh! Right! That… Yeah, I knew that.” He said sheepishly and he was so very grateful that she didn’t get upset. She merely smiled and shook her head.

“You forgot didn’t you?” Her tone was curious and obviously entertained by his silliness.

“N-no I didn’t!”

“Harry.” She chided; still finding his behavior funny.

“Well… Okay… maybe a little…” He said a little sulkily before brightening back up.

“But you’re kind of to blame.” Rose quirked an eyebrow.

“Oh? And exactly how is any of that _my fault_?” Harry gave her a look as if it were oh so obvious.

“Because you are _VERY_ distracting! How am I supposed to remember things when you were all topless and straddling me? I’m surprised I know my own name after that…” Harry told her in a serious yet airy way as he mock scolded her. Though, he said that last bit about his name more to himself than to her. Rose smiled and leaned in until their lips were a fraction of an inch away.

“Guess you’ll just have to make me say it more then, huh Harry?” She said in a sexy tone that sent a chill down his spine. Then she leaned in and gave him a chaste kiss before pulling away to take in those green eyes of his.

“That can be arranged.” He quipped as he gently massaged his thumb in little circles over the pulse point on her wrist. The loud ringing sound of a phone startled them both, and for a second they thought it was Harry’s again. But, this time it was Rose’s! The symbiote couldn’t help a sense of relief that washed over it as the little alien secretly gave thanks to whomever the caller may be.

　


	24. Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rose gets called away and Harry tries to ignore her... and kind of fails. XD

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah I know.... We've been stuck in the whole bedroom scene a lot. Lmfao but I'm trying to get him healed and out of there. Remember! They're only on like the 6th day or something. So yeah, please be patient. ^_^

Rose reached into the pocket of her white coat and retrieved the ringing device. Clicking the answer button as she held it to her ear.

“Hello?”

 _“Morning, Rose.”_ It was Tabitha and she sounded like her usual monotone self.

“Oh, hey. Is everything okay?” Rose’s posture straightened and Harry recognized it as the same body language she usually had when in work mode. He frowned a little, wondering who she was talking to.

_“My physical wellbeing is fine, yes. However, I am calling on the matter of the appointment of one Penny Marko.”_

“And how is that going?” Rose asked; trying not to give out any unnecessary information, since this was sort of a delicate operation. She had been setting the whole thing up when she was on her computer the other night. So, Tabitha knew that she was at Harry’s and how she had to handle the conversation.

 _“I **persuaded** the mother to put her in that pseudo trial of ours, and she’ll be bringing her in later today. Told her she had to leave her for tests and that she’ll have to wait in the waiting room. That should give the kid some time with her father.”_ Tabitha said in her usual cool, deadpan way.

“I see. Well, if you really need me to… I’ll see what I can do. Hold on a moment please.” Rose could practically hear her friend rolling her eyes through the phone as she turned to Harry, and pretended to put the call on mute.

The second generation Green Goblin had been rather swept up in his thoughts about quite a few topics as she spoke on the phone; mostly about Rose though. Like who she was talking to and why; because whoever the hell it was, they were interrupting their awesome moment of bantering!

He also wondered about why she even bothered dressing up in work clothes anyway since she was now his girlfriend. And how he hated that the flowing white lab coat made it impossible to ogle her the way he wanted to; and how freaked out or mad she might get if he bundled it up around one of his pumpkin bombs and blew the damn thing to smithereens…! Yes, his thoughts were just a _little bit_ monopolized by the raven haired beauty, who was now saying his name… wait… what?

“Harry?” Rose blinked in surprise to see that he’d pretty much been staring at her the whole time, and at the call of his name, he snapped out of whatever trance he’d been in…

“Yeah?”

“Would it be alright if I left for a little bit to go to the hospital? A colleague of mine needs to consult me on a case involving a child.” Rose kindly elaborated; feeling he might be more inclined to let her go if it were for a good reason.

His brow knitted thoughtfully. Damn… it seemed he’d have to actually go some time without his pretty doctor around to lavish him with attention… Hmm… But maybe he could make her stay somehow? If the case wasn’t all that important he could probably talk her out of it entirely!

“Is it serious?” He asked in mock concern; not really caring about some stranger, who may or may not just be faking or have a cold or something lame like that. But he saw Rose’s expression full of that caring nature of hers; that he thought made her such an interesting person to begin with, and he felt his selfish attitude dwindle some.

“Yes… She could die.” And this wasn’t a lie either. Rose saw how ill Penny was the last time she’d seen her, and that kid probably wouldn’t make it much longer without serious complications. The physician could understand wholeheartedly why Penny’s father had turned to crime to make some quick cash in hopes of saving his daughter.

If Rose could help it, she was determined to make sure that kid would survive! The thought of a seemingly decent dad like Flint Marko, or really ANY parent suffering because they couldn’t save their child got that old skool hero part of the anti-hero in her boiling mad!

“Oh…” That stern and somewhat oddly fiery look in her stormy grey eyes made him feel bad for trying to keep her to himself… if only just enough to allow him to say what he did next.

“If you think that’s what needs to be done, then go ahead. It IS your job, I guess.” He folded his arms over his chest and turned his head to look idly at the wall. Rose shook her head at his behavior and smiled some.

“Thank you.” Then she turned back to the phone and spoke into it again after pretending to hit the button to resume the call.

“It appears I’ll be able to make it.”

_“Tek, took you long enough…”_

Tabitha said a tad boredly. And after a few more minutes where they worked out the details of the time and made the call sound like an official ON THE RECORD type of consulting call, she hung up and tucked the cell back into her coat pocket. Harry was still glowering at the wall when she went back over to him.

“Calls over if you want to talk now.” The lass offered, hoping to turn that frown upside down like she always did. He didn’t say anything.

 _“Heheheheheh! He’s pouting! Look, Fin, look! Cute, huh?’_ Rose thought with delight.

 _‘Why does that even matter?’_ It really had no idea what made a pouting Harry any more interesting than how he was normally. But apparently it mattered to it’s host.

 _‘It’s just that… I never thought I’d see the day when I had that kind of reaction on someone… I dunno… I guess I’m just being me… forget I said anything…’_ Her giddiness faltered a little, but the symbiote frowned for it did want to understand.

_‘What does his behavior mean to us?’_

_‘Well… to ME, it shows that he cares enough to get jealous over something as simple as a phone call… and I don’t know about you… but I like the idea of someone caring about me.’_ Annnnnnd NOW it made sense to the alien sentient. And while it muddled this over quietly, Rose decided that she’d try getting Harry’s attention. She began to softly poke his good cheek.

“Ha-aaaaaaarry! Hello?” Nothing… He sat there with his expression steeling to further ignore her.

 _‘Hmm… when in doubt! FIGHT DIRTY!’_ Rose leaned forward and wrapped her arms loosely around his shoulders. She felt him tense at the sudden physical contact, but he did not waver!

So, the young lady pressed her lips to his neck and began kissing and nibbling at the tender flesh, that was so nicely exposed to her, since he had his head to the side like that to try and not look at her.

He visibly shuddered, but bit back the sharp gasp that nearly escaped him. No! He would NOT give in that easily! She’d have to do better than that! It was a small battle of wills now… well mostly his… but still! It was on!

“Harry… please don’t ignore me _Harry_.” Her voice a sensually pleading whisper that seemed to be getting closer to his ear with each nip and peck she placed.

 _‘Ooooh! Why does she have to say my name like **that**?! Maybe… I should just… NO! No… I started this whole little ignoring game and damn it if I won’t be the winner!’ _ His body started feeling all good and tingly like it always did when Rose was involved… but he did his best to try and ignore it and the little voice in the back of his head that was calling him a stubborn idiot.

“Well… if that’s the way you want to be… then I guess I’ll just go back to my work.” And just as quick as she’d begun her assault on his throat, was she gone entirely from his side. His head spun around anxiously to see where she’d gone. But, with a silent sigh of relief, he saw that she had only gone over to where all the packaged bandages and items lay on a table. 

Slipping on a pair of the latex gloves and fetching the usual medical items, did she return over to the bed and set the metal tray that they were set upon, on his bedside table. Harry realized that she intended to change his bandages and decided to go back to his not noticing of her, because he was thick headed like that.

As she changed his bandages and did the usual routine of cleaning them and applying medicine and so forth, did he take a lot more notice of how much care and skill she took in how she went about her work. And he ended up blurting out one of the few things that had been nagging at him but had been too afraid to ask or say because he thought it might show how crazy he feared he was.

“Do you always take so much care with your patients?” She didn’t even bother to look up from her work as she answered honestly and coolly.

“I do take pride in my work mostly. But, no. You are the exception. Or haven’t you figured that out yet?” He frowned a little.

“Let me guess… You’re all afraid that I might end up only liking you because of your money, right?” Harry’s green orbs turned to stare at her, dumbfounded.

“How did you know?” Rose sighed softly.

“Seems to be a major issue with you. You seem almost incapable of believing anyone might just like you for who you are.” Yeah… okay that was pretty true. He still gave an indignant little huff that she found funny, but now he decided to watch her.

“So… do you?” He couldn’t help asking…

“No. But, I think it’ll take you a while to believe me. Its okay though… I’ll wait.” She flashed him a knowing smile before finishing her bandaging. He muddled that over and knew she was right about it taking him a while to trust her like that… but he was thankful Rose was being patient with him.

“Good news though. Your chest wound is healing up rather nicely. The internal damage will take a little longer than the external though, so please don’t worry. It shouldn’t be too long now and you’ll be up and about.”

“Do you always have to talk like a doctor?” He asked a tad irritably.

“Only when I’m talking about doctor stuff.” She quipped thoughtfully. Harry rolled his eyes.

“What did you mean by it was “quite nice” when Bernard was talking to us earlier?” Rose quirked an eyebrow.

“It’s called _being discreet_ , Harry. I thought that was obvious.” This didn’t seem to satisfy him though and he just gave her a childish glower. Rose peeled off her gloves and placed a hand on either side of his face so that he would be made to look right in her eyes, because she wanted to make sure he heard her.

“Would you have rather I told him the truth? That you and I had a jolly old time practically ravishing each other last night _and_ this morning? Or how we’ve agreed to date and plan on engaging in some more delicious debauchery, simply because I find you _oh_ _so utterly_ attractive, engaging and addictive?”

He sat there gaping at her. Not at all sure how to respond to that except to stare some more.

“I thought as much.” Rose said in a matter of fact way as she gave him a chaste peck on the lips, before letting go of his handsome face and stepping back to give him a chance to react. When he continued to be stunned out of his wits, she went about cleaning up the empty bandage packets and such.

“D-do you really… think all that… about me, I mean?” Rose inwardly sighed heavily. He was such a deliciously broken boy.

“Yes Harry.”

“What do you… like about me the most?” The lass turned back to him, to see that he was fidgeting nervously with one of the blankets that kept his naked lower half covered. She didn’t even hesitate with that one.

“Your eyes. And before you even say anything, YES I do mean _both_ of them.” Rose quickly added that part when she saw that glitter of disbelief.

“How?”

“Because, I’m attracted to more than just physical appearance. I mainly like a person for WHO they are. And to me, you are quite handsome. But, if you mean specifically the eyes… well, I told you once before that they are such a _mesmerizing green_. I don’t mind your scarring at all. Sort of adds to your charm in fact.” The young woman mused the last bit as he blushed and unconsciously reached a hand up to touch at his own blemished cheek.

“Now… I understand that it’ll take time for us to get to know each other and really trust one another, but if this is merely just about you being upset about my having to leave soon, then I would have had to anyway to get a change of clothes. You know that, right?” Rose asked and he smiled sheepishly.

“Yeah, I know that. But, why do you have to wear work clothes anyway? I don’t get it. You’re just going to be around me.” Rose laughed softly.

“Harry… if you had your way, I’d be wearing only a bra, panties and my stethoscope.” At her words she could clearly see that he was trying to imagine what that might look like. And he gave a childish frown of disapproval before shaking his head.

“No… _just_ the stethoscope I think.” He stated as if it were actually going to happen in the next five seconds.

“Never heard a complaint about my attire before.”

“That was before I got a glimpse of that sexy body of yours. You know… it _is_ a little hard to tell how hot you are when your clothes are all baggy and layered like that.” His pretty doctor smirked at this.

“So you’d rather I dress more revealingly for work _all the time_?” He went to open his mouth to say something but then realized this was a bit of a trick question and hesitated.

“No. Just around _me_.”

“A little possessive, aren’t we?”

“I’m fairly sure we both are.” At this she gave a confirming nod.

“Fair enough.” Rose shrugged. Not something she’d have denied anyway; not being a bit ashamed about that sort of thing as most people probably would be. Then again, most people probably didn’t like and care about a symbiotic sentient alien AND a sociopathic, attention starved former super villain in such a loving manner as she did.

“So… how long until you have to leave?” He asked in that churlishly immature tone of his. A glance at the clock on the wall gave her an answer to give him.

“Not too long. Depending on when Bernard gets here, I should be able to at least enjoy breakfast with you.” Harry gave a grumpy little nod and she couldn’t stop herself from hugging him.

“You’re so cute! If it wasn’t important I wouldn’t leave, you know.” He blushed furiously, but did nothing to deter the affection.

“Yeah… I kind of figured that.”

“While I’m gone you can handle your work too, that way you won’t feel bad for kicking me out of the room again.” She gave him a smooch on the cheek.

“I _know_ you did, Harry.” He mumbled something like a “Whatever” but Rose just giggled quietly and gave him another peck. The more they were around each other like this, the more comfortable they felt with being themselves.

“Hey Harry?”

“Hmm?”

“When are you going to tell Bernard? I know you kind of think of him as family… He’s so nice, it’s kind of hard not to.” Heh, she did have a point on that one. Though, he wasn’t quite sure if he felt ready to say anything about their relationship just yet.

“Not sure…”

“That’s okay. I was just wondering.”  And speak of the devil! There came the familiar knock on the door.

“Come on in Bernard.” Harry said as Rose withdrew from her hugging of him. She was pretty quick with that he noticed. And while he was grateful because he knew the lovely lady only did it for his sake, he felt kind of bad for two reasons. One: because the physical contact was gone.

And two: he didn’t think it was nice to make her pretend just to have his own feelings spared. But, at this point, it seemed it was just in the good doctor’s nature to look out for him. So he figured that he couldn’t say much without sounding like a thankless bastard or something.

The elderly man opened the door, and Rose was quick to meet him at the door this time to help him carry the trays. The man had pretty good balance, then again years of practice sort of evened out the old to skilled ratio. He thanked her kindly as she took one of the trays over to Harry and handed it to him. The helpful lass then went and fetched the other tray from the butler who blinked and smiled.

“Thank you for the breakfast, I can tell it’ll be delicious.” Rose told him with a genial smile.

“You’re quite welcome, young lady and thank you for saying so.” He said delightedly. She was such a nice change from the times he’d met that unsavory Ms. Watson.

“My pleasure! Oh, by the way. I have to leave for a while, so if you don’t mind, do you think you could keep an eye on Harry for me until I get back?” Bernard looked a tad surprised but nodded; figuring she probably needed to make a trip to her own apartment to fetch some clean cloths or the like.

“I’d be happy to, Dr. Aconitum. Do you think you’ll be gone long?” Rose thought for a moment; glancing toward Harry and then back to Bernard. He noticed that Harry didn’t look very pleased about her leaving. He hoped nothing had happened between these two. That would be disappointing.

“Hmm, I’d love to give you an exact time, but due to the situation I’m afraid I can’t. I’ve been called to the hospital to help a co-worker of mine with a particular case.”

“Oh dear! Nothing serious I hope?” Bernard asked in concern.

“It would seem it is. I cannot go into much detail about it. Doctor-Patient confidentiality and all that. I do hope it goes well though.” She said in a tone that conveyed this. Bernard gave an understanding nod.

“Please let me know when you’ll be leaving then.”

“I will. Thanks again.”

“It is no trouble at all.” And after looking to Harry to be dismissed, he smiled and left them alone again.

Rose went to take, what was now considered her spot, beside Harry on the bed. They ate in partial silence; comfortably chattering idly here and there about work, cartoons, and the food; which ended up leading to her telling him a little bit about the basics of cooking. Rose was glad he found it somewhat interesting, since it was something he hoped to learn. All too soon though, they had finished their breakfast and it was time for her to be leaving.

“Do you really not know how long you’ll be gone?” Harry asked as she gathered up their trays in a manner that she could carry them together.

“Yeah. I know it sucks, but I’ve no idea what’s wrong with her or what tests need to be done. I hate to say it… but I may even end up having to come in tomorrow.” Rose sighed, biting her lip and hoping he wouldn’t react too badly at this.

“Wait, what? But what about the deal we made earlier?!” He whined and she tried not to give in to the urge to hug him again; because she knew if she did, she may end up staying and her conscious just wouldn’t allow that.

“I didn’t get the call then. It’s not like we both don’t have cell phones. Text me if you want. Just don’t freak out if I don’t respond instantly or my phone gets turned off. I can’t have it on or around me with some machines.” She pointed out, and this seemed to suffice a little.

“That’s true… just hurry up, ok?” For this he received a sweet smile and a kiss on his forehead.

“I’ll do my best.” Rose made sure she had enough time to give him a quick sponge bath, but upon asking if he wanted one, he blushed adorably and said that she could do it later when she got back, since he didn’t think they really had enough time for it. But in truth, he thought he might end up changing his mind if she gave him one.

Thankfully, she didn’t so much as giggle and left the room after a quick kiss goodbye. Taking their trays to the kitchen before letting Bernard know she was leaving, and then Rose headed out to the hospital; the symbiote was in better spirits now that they were away from the clingy Goblin Boy, and the ravenette couldn’t help wondering if that was the reason for it’s change in mood as they headed to their destination…

 


	25. Happy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which promises are kept and two friends have a little chat...

By the time Rose reached the hospital; which wasn’t that long since she’d been feeling pretty good lately and went ahead and teleported there, it was time for the appointment. She went to the designated exam room and found Tabitha was already in there, and so was Penny!

“Hello Dr. Aconitum.” Tabitha greeted the other casually. Penny gave a shy little wave and Rose smiled warmly at the little girl as she closed the door behind her.

“Morning Dr. Tenshi. And you must be Penny! My, what a pretty young lady you are.” Rose said gently as she approached the young girl; who giggled.

“Thank you, Doctor.”

“Please, call me Rose. I know my last name is a bit weird and hard to say. Not at all easy like Dr. Tenshi’s.” She said, gesturing to the other with a nod. Tabitha gave a nod as she agreed. They were trying to be civil in front of the young girl so as not to upset her with their usual bizarre banter.

“Okay!” Penny seemed a little nervous and was looking rather tired, despite her sheer will to stay in a spirited mood.

“Well then. I think we should start with figuring out what is making you so sick, okay Penny? Please try not to feel nervous or embarrassed. We’re only here to help you get better. Do you understand?” Penny gave a nod and the two physicians commenced their examination.

Rose did all the hands on stuff since she was better with keeping patients calm and comfortable, while Tabitha asked most of the questions and wrote things down. They decided on which tests should be conducted to get a better grasp on a diagnosis so that they could treat it.

Since this was a covert mission of sorts; because Rose wasn’t technically supposed to have another patient right now, they had to do all the tests and such themselves, so they would take turns staying with Penny or trying to keep her calm while the other drew blood and so forth.

The two physicians sat in a room opposite the one that Penny was in as they ran her through a specific scan. Rose turned to Tabitha and decided now was a good a chance as any to talk a little.

“You know that patient of mine that I’m doing the whole homecare gig for?” Tabitha nodded as she watched the screen stoically.

“I… um… I’m sort of dating him now.” Tabitha swirled around so fast in her wheelie chair that she fell over! Rose eyed her for a moment in shock before moving to help her up. And when both women were sitting back down, Tabitha was able to form a response.

“You _mean_ to tell me, that you are now in a _romantic relationship_ with your patient?”

“That’s what I just said.”

“Harry Osborn… former Green Goober, who is the son of that Spider-Man _obsessed_ weirdo Norman Osborn?”

“That’s Green Goblin, and yes.”

“The homicidal maniac who likes to throw around pumpkin bombs and ride a glider?”

“He’s more of a sweet sociopath than a homicidal maniac… that’s more Normie’s game. But, yeah.” Tabitha grew quiet for a minute as she quirked a skeptical brow at this, then continued.

“Does he share your _feelings_?” The younger of the two asked; seeing as she was pretty much the only person Rose would discuss this sort of thing with. And despite how she normally wasn’t fond of the whole “feelings” subject, Tabitha was making an effort.

“I think so. He got pretty depressed because I had to leave to help her.” Rose gestured to the kid in the scanner.

“Are you _happy_?” The taller woman smiled and nodded.

“Yeah, so far it seems to be going rather well. A few bumps here and there, but otherwise good.” Tabitha processed this answer and then gave a curt nod before turning her eyes back to check the status of the scan.

“Good. Now stop being all _gooey_ about Gobby Jr. and _focus_.” The ravenette shook her head and decided to do as she was told, but since it was pretty quiet, she decided to carry on the conversation anyway.

“So… how are things between you and your little kitten?” Rose smirked as she saw a blush creep up on her friend’s face. Rose was in a pretty chipper mood since Tabitha hadn’t given her a rough time about Harry.

“I _understand_ that the chemicals that induce the effect of _love_ are pretty much drowning your brain right now… But your sweetness is reaching _sickening_ levels of sugariness. So _cut_ it out or I _will_.” Coolly warned the deadpan voice that was Tabitha Tenshi.

“Hmm… Don’t wanna talk about it, eh Boffin? That’s okay. I’m here when you need me.” Rose said in a mock consoling tone. A silvery blur flashed passed her eyes and Rose didn’t even need to look behind her to know that there was now a scalpel imbedded in the wall!

“Shut up, you damn _Weed_.” Rose gave a carefree shrug at the low hiss and they resumed their work in silence. The symbiont meanwhile; having listened to all of this so far, couldn’t help feeling a little unsure of things and mixture of other emotions that it wasn’t used to experiencing; especially so much, but was steadily becoming accustomed too the more this “relationship” between Rose and Harry seemed to grow…

Sure, Fin and the ravenette hadn’t decided upon making their bond permanent or anything, but the thought of her bonding in ANY kind of way with anyone other than itself caused it to become distressed; unsure of what it could do that wouldn’t end up making it’s host upset with it… or even worse… to hate and desire to be rid of it as Spider-Man once did! These human sentiments and thoughts would take much consideration for one who was still so nascent in terms of understanding the human species and their strange ways.

Well, it took them a while to do the tests they couldn’t do in Tabitha’s own lab, but once they were done, that’s where they headed to next. Tabitha used her key in the door adjacent to the one in the exam room they were using, and presto! They were in the self-proclaimed Mad Scientist’s lab!

Penny made a cute little “Oooooo!” of awe that managed to make Tabitha smirk a tad in pride. Then they closed the door behind them and sat Penny where they needed her to be. The little girl rubbed at her eyes tiredly; the poor thing was getting tuckered out from all the tests and whatnot.

“Okay Penny. Since you have been such a good girl, we are going to give you a reward.” Penny raised her eyebrow.

“Is it a lollipop?” Rose smiled and gave her a little pat on the head as Tabitha rolled her eyes and went about getting set up.

“No, and it isn’t a sticker either. Do you remember that woman in the cool black suit who saved you the other day?” The girl’s eyes widened and she wasn’t sure if she should say if she did or not.

“It’s okay. We’re friends of hers and she asked us to help you. And she even told us about how you miss your dad.” This brightened the child up considerably.

“Did she give him my letters?!” Rose nodded and little Penny squealed happily.

“Now, close your eyes ok?” Penny nodded enthusiastically and covered her eyes with her hands as she closed them as well. And that was Flint Marko’s cue to come out from where he’d been hiding in one of Tabitha’s cabinets in his sand form. He materialized himself as Rose moved out of the way so he could stand in front of his daughter.

“Penny, you can open your eyes now kiddo.” Flint told her in a soft, fatherly tone. The girl’s eyes snapped open and he had to lean forward to catch her as she ended up almost falling off in her excitement to get to him.

“DADDY!” Little arms threw themselves around his neck as he was finally able to hold his baby girl after so long!

Rose aww’d while Tabitha managed a small smile at the endearing sight. The father and daughter hug went on for about a minute, as Penny animatedly chattered away about how much she’d missed him and so on, while he replied that he’d missed her too and all that sweet, mushy stuff that was just nice and cavity inducing!

While Tabitha and Rose did the last few tests for Penny, the little girl and her dad spent their time happily catching up and just being happy that the other was there! But then, it was result time! And the two Marko’s grew quiet when Rose announced it.

Since Tabitha commented to Rose that she would’ve probably said something to accidentally upset either Marko, she told Rose to explain it. And so, Rose explained that Penny had a rare degenerative condition and it was mainly effecting her lungs; hence why she needed her oxygen treatments. **(A/N: I am not a doctor, I’m making this up as I go along. Forgive my inaccuracy.)**

And though that was helpful, it wasn’t doing anything to treat the actual condition. Flint asked what could be done and Rose calmly informed that it shouldn’t be a problem, but he would have to leave the room while they administered the treatment.

The Sandman VERY hesitantly agreed to leave his daughter’s side, but only after Penny herself said it was okay. Rose led him out to the exam room and told him to stay hidden until she called him back in.

She shut the door and secured it so that no one would be able to get back in until they were done. Then Tabitha instructed Penny to close her eyes, which she did; though she seemed very nervous. They gave her an anesthetic that would be powerful enough for most of the pain that would probably be caused, but wouldn’t hurt her.

Tabitha took a deep breath to prepare herself for what she needed to do and placed a hand on either side of the young girl’s head; making sure her hands were in full contact with skin. Rose stood by for when her part came up and waited patiently.

Using molecular manipulation in a biological aspect to rid another of a disease was quite a task to undertake. Thankfully for Penny, Tabitha was quite dedicated to her training in perfecting her ability to use her powers. However, this still didn’t take away from the fact that it still took a toll on the umber haired boffin. Tabitha closed her eyes in concentration. Penny began clenching her fists; trying to be tough, but Rose felt bad for the kid when a little whimper escaped her.

So, she spoke softly and quietly to the child; whispering words intended to soothe and encourage. It was unfortunate, but Penny had to be awake for this part for various reasons; which both doctors understood. It was just one of those things.

Grey eyes looked to her friend as she caught the scent of blood, and saw that Tabitha’s nose had begun to bleed from the strain. Her face was contorted in pain, but she did not waver from her task! After another minute or two, Tabitha’s weak voice could be heard.

“Hurry upand take over!” And in an instant Rose was pushing her friend’s hands out of the way and replacing them with her own. Tabitha went over and collapsed down into her wheelie chair; ignoring her still bleeding nose and trying not to pass out.

“Did you finish clearing away the disease?”

“Y-yeah. Just heal her and _shut up_.” Came the irked and strained voice of Tabitha. Rose didn’t even bother to respond and did as she was told. It wasn’t exactly a moment one could take lightly.

With the illness taken from her body, Penny was probably in a lot of pain from having it cured, because that in itself would cause a little extra damage. And also any damage the disease had caused to the girl’s body since she’d had it would need to be remedied too. This is where Rose took over, since her healing skills were much better than Tabitha’s. She localized the major source of the pain first and tended to that; doing her best to continue comforting the girl.

When Rose was sure the girl would be stable enough, she went ahead and had Tabitha; who was exhausted but compliant, put her under while Rose continued mending the damage. The girl was soon asleep so that the pain wouldn’t be so bad.

It took a little while, because Rose wanted to make sure she’d done a good job and had made Tabitha give Penny a scan to check, but they were finally finished! She heaved a tired sigh and slumped down into a chair beside Tabitha.

“You’re too _nice_ … you know that, right?” The deadpan boffin asked.

“Yeah… but so are you, so zip it.” Rose replied tiredly and Tabitha gave a pained little chuckle.

“Are you going to be okay Tabi?” She felt concerned for her friend, since her power usage had the effect of putting on more strain than Rose’s healing did. And far more ill effects than mere hunger…

“Meh… I’ll _live_.” And they sat in silence until they were able to get their second wind. Tabitha stayed where she was though and wiped the blood off of her face, as Rose stood to go let Flint back in.

“How is she?! Is she okay?!” He asked as soon as he re-formed in the room.

“Yes, she’s just resting. Penny should be fine. But I recommend her having a check-up should she ever show any signs of having the disease.” His eyes widened.

“Wait…? You mean… you cured her?! But how?!” Rose held up her hand and gave him a polite yet firm look with a tone to match.

“Mr. Marko, I think we can both agree that this whole situation has been able to occur strictly due to secrecy. So, if you do not mind, I would really like to have it stay that way. You may wait until your daughter wakes up to say goodbye, and then Dr. Tenshi will return her to her mother.” Flint looked at her solemnly and nodded in understanding; though he was sad to hear he had to part from his daughter again.

“What do I owe ya?” The dark haired woman turned her head to look at the slumbering girl; a sad little smile on her face that made him sorry he’d asked.

“Just make sure she’s happy.” She said softly and somberly. And before he could say anything else, Rose turned to the door sharply; the tail of her white coat furling out behind her as she opened the door and made a swift exit.

 

 


	26. You Have MORE of These?!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which some comedy and cuteness ensue between our favorite sociopath and his pretty doctor.

By the time they had done everything they needed to in regards to curing Penny; since most of it had to be done without the mother or anyone else noticing, which was quite a pain but was pulled off with each doctor skillfully manipulating and maneuvering their way through it, it had gotten pretty late.

And Rose still needed to get back to her apartment to get cleaned up and collect some clothes to wear… and eat. Yeah, she definitely required food now. Unfortunately, she hadn’t had the energy to even teleport back, so she decided to cheat today and use her trusty smiley key!

Oh how she mentally thanked her insane little friend for this useful device! It came in so handy when she really needed it. She stuck the black key, with the rictus grinning smiley face that went from grey to neon green, in the lock of one of the doors in the hospital; where there weren’t any prying eyes or cameras, and stepped into her darkening apartment.

After getting a good meal and a shower, she decided to go and grab some clothes. But damn! She had forgotten her backpack at Harry’s place! Rose frowned in thought and rummaged around her place until she found a plastic bag from her last trip to the grocery store.

“Eh… It’ll have to do.”

_‘Why not just let us form a backpack?’_

“Because when it disappears someone might wonder where it went.” The symbiote frowned and fell silent at this. It wasn’t much of a talkative creature unless it felt like it and mostly seemed to prefer observing. Otherwise they typically conveyed things to one another by feeling, since their bond allowed it.

And it helped that they were getting so used to one another that they did not need to communicate verbally as much. The young woman wondered exactly if she should grab just one pair of clothes… and then remembered she was supposed to stay tonight AND tomorrow…

“I better pack three days worth… just in case…” The symbiote rolled it’s eyes as she proceeded to pick out some comfy work clothes, some sleepwear and under things. Rose headed into the kitchen and grabbed a few boxes of Pumpkin Pudding and tossed them into her bag as well.

“I am SO making this when I get there… if I remember… maybe tomorrow… I wonder if Harry will like it? I bet he would. I mean he has the whole exploding pumpkin and Halloween theme going for him in his Goblin Gear. Y’know?” Fin didn’t particularly care and just let it’s host chatter away as usual. It had more pressing matters on it’s mind than whether or not the rich brat liked pudding.

The shower and food were pretty refreshing, and her healing factor helped out too, but she was still thinking about sleep as she teleported outside of Harry’s building. She made her way up and was glad to find that Bernard was still there to let her in.

“Welcome back, Dr. Aconitum. How did your consultation go?” The butler asked pleasantly.

“Very well, thank you. I think the little girl will pull through.” She smiled politely, but he could tell she looked a little worn out.

 _‘It must have been a trying case… but she has been gone for hours. The poor dear.’_ Bernard thought as he returned the smile. Then he noticed she was carrying something.

“Oh, and what is that you have there?” Rose looked a tad taken aback and then a faint blush came over her fair features as she quickly tucked it behind her back.

“This? Nothing important…” The butler raised a brow at her curious behavior and she felt a tad sheepish as her fingers played with the handles of the bag. Why hadn’t she brought her damn backpack with her?!

“I thought I saw pudding boxes…?” He sounded quite bemused.

“Well, Harry’s asked me to keep an eye on him overnight again, and I thought I’d make some pudding.” It _was_ the truth, but she couldn’t help feeling like she was somehow lying to the old man. Bernard’s eyes widened and then he smiled in an understanding manner.

“I see! That was quite kind of you, Doctor! Harry does favor his desserts.” This piqued her interest.

“He does?” He nodded.

“Does he like Pumpkin Pudding?” Bernard was thoughtful for a moment.

“I do not believe the Young Master has ever had it… though he does seem quite fond of the pie at Thanksgiving.” She smiled.

“Oh! Well, then he might just like this then! It’s a lot like the pie, just without the crust and it tastes creamier.” The butler gave a nod and she edged around him toward Harry’s room; keeping her back facing away from him as she slowly walked backwards to hide the bag.

“So, is Harry busy or may I go see him?” Bernard followed right behind her; though technically he was facing her front. He thought her to be comical as it was obvious she had more than pudding in that bag.

If his eyes weren’t too old, he was positive he saw one of her scrub tops. And seeing as no one had so much as stepped into the guest room, he had the sneaky suspicion that they’d slept in the same room… and more possibly, the same bed!

Not that it bothered him though. In fact, he was glad Harry seemed to be taking an interest in a nice young woman. Though he’d seen him try to court the redhead girl by the name of MJ, he didn’t see any connection like he saw with Harry and Rose. There was just some strange yet natural attraction between the two…

It was clear as day the Watson harlot had been after the poor boy for his money and connections. And when she’d dumped him for the Parker boy, he had felt so very sorry for the lad when he had come home so depressed! Though it wasn’t his place, the kindly and faithful butler was still not very fond of when either of Harry’s “friends” came by to visit. It usually tended to cause the boy distress.

“He finished up with his work not too long ago. Since you’ve been gone he rather buried himself in it.” Ah, so that was why he hadn’t blown up her phone with calls and text messages!

“I’m glad he kept busy in a nice and productive way.”

“Indeed!” He said before giving a knock on the door. Rose made sure to maneuver around so as to keep the bag out of sight.

“Master Harry, Dr. Aconitum has returned!” He called courteously through the door. No reply came. Both shared a worried frown and Bernard opened the door quietly and peered in. They saw Harry lying on his back on the bed.

Rose of course wormed her way in and hurried over to him; trying to be as quiet as she could in case he was asleep. And with a small sigh of relief, she saw that he was. She set the bag down on the little table beside his bed and smiled down at his sweetly sleeping form.

Bernard watched the scene from the doorway and smiled warmly when he saw her reach out a hand and brush his curly hair off of his forehead. Harry didn’t even stir. There was a book resting open on his chest. He had fallen asleep reading it.

Carefully, she picked the book off of him and set it on the bedside table as well. She then turned to her bag and took out all of the pudding boxes before heading back to the door.

“Let’s let him sleep. I’ll make some pudding that way we can have it later. Ok?” Bernard nodded as she whispered this and they went to the kitchen together. He showed her where the items that she would need were and ended up showing her around in case she decided to cook again.

The young woman was glad because she had a little trouble finding everything last time. He made them some tea while Rose mixed the pudding. And when they were both done and she’d put it in the refrigerator to do what it is that pudding does, the two of them enjoyed a nice hot cup of English Breakfast Tea and butter cookies.

He would’ve made scones, but she told him something already made would be fine. So upon the suggestion of the cookies, they were set. They conversed cordially; mostly exchanging recipes, since being in the kitchen just inspired the discussion of food with her… plus she did like eating anyway. Rose was really glad she had the metabolism that she did…

Rose left to go and check on Harry again while Bernard stayed to clean up; as he refused to let her help with the dishes again. With a shrug she went back to Harry’s room. He was now awake and… wait… what the heck was he doing?!

“Harry!? What are you doing with that?!” The young man was so startled that he dropped what he’d been examining in his hands! Blushing madly as he tried to look innocent and failed miserably.

“It’s not what it looks like!” He said as he held his hands up in defense. Rose strode over quickly to snatch the object he’d just dropped; holding it up in an accusing manner as he rubbed the back of his head nervously.

“So… You _weren’t_ just ogling and fondling my panties? Hmm?!” She inquired coolly. Harry opened his mouth to reply, then shut it again, and then opened it again; making him look like a panicked fish out of water.

“O-oookay… it _might_ be what it looks like…” The young man admitted bashfully. However, despite all of that and how red his face was, as soon as she held up the undergarment, he couldn’t take his eyes off of it! The reason for this was most likely due to the fact that they were black with a little, silky light green ribbon in the shape of a bow, right on the front near the hem.

“ _Why_ do you have something like that?!” Rose quirked an eyebrow and said in a nonchalant tone like it was all obvious.

“I like cute things. _Why_ were you playing with them?” She countered, waving the article of clothing back and forth and watching how his eyes followed it. It was seriously difficult to keep from laughing and trying to keep a straight face.

“Well…” He shifted uncomfortably as his blush darkened; his eyes finally tearing away from the panties to stare at anything else.

“I just want to know Harry. It’s not something I come across every day.” Rose told him in a softer tone, and he cleared his throat.

“At first, it was because I thought it was cute that you had something like that… but then… I started trying to imagine what you looked like in them… and… I kind of lost track of time you see.” The more he said, the redder he got and the more he felt all warm and tingly everywhere.

 _‘If he were an anime character… his nose would be gushing blood.’_ She thought humorously.

 _‘What’s-sss an… ani-me?’_ Fin asked curiously.

 _‘Never mind…’_ The lass mentally facepalmed.

“So… that’s all?” He nodded.

“Oh, well that’s okay. I was worried you might’ve said you wanted to wear them. I mean… you might actually look kind of cute, but I don’t think they’d fit you. No offense.” Rose said jokingly; trying to make him feel better.

“ _Please_ … Rose… stop talking and put the panties down?” He asked in a pleading tone. Harry really couldn’t take any more embarrassing things right now, and her cross-dressing joke just was NOT helping.

“Right… Sorry.” She lowered the garment and set it back in the bag.

“It’s okay.” He sighed and she waited until he calmed down enough to look at her again.

“You know… Bernard saw the bag when I came in.” Harry looked horror stricken and buried his face in his hands.

“Oh God…!” He mumbled through his fingers.

“Don’t freak out. I don’t think he saw what you just did, but I’m pretty sure he suspects something…” The young woman said as she reached over and soothingly rubbed his shoulder.

“Really? Did he seem upset?” Rose thought back to how Bernard had reacted.

“No. He seemed a tad surprised, but then he had this big smile on his face. I wouldn’t be shocked if he knew before we did.” She mused aloud.

“Knew what?” Harry asked; still embarrassed and even more so that the image of the panties kept popping up in his mind.

 _‘Gah! What the HELL brain?! WHY?!’_ Ah, internal conflict… it really did like to mess with him.

“That there is something between you and I. It explains why he didn’t put up any further argument last night when you said I’d be staying over.”

“Yeah… that does make sense.” He said thoughtfully, finding that he calmed down when he focused on the sound of her voice and her hand on his shoulder.

“So… I have to know… were those the only panties of mine you ogled? Or did you manage to get to the other ones?” His eyes went really wide and his head snapped to stare at her in shock and fascination.

“You mean there’s _more than one_?!” Rose couldn’t stand it anymore and burst out laughing.

“Of course! Why would I pack for three nights and only bring one pair of undergarments?!” He stared at her and then asked in a cautious tone; as if he hadn’t heard her right.

“You packed for _three_ nights?” The young woman calmed her laughter and nodded. Running a hand through her hair.

“Yeah, I always pack an extra just in case. It pays to be prepared you know.” He grinned.

“True… but now you can spend an extra night.” Though she found this a sweet offer, it kind of messed with her.

“So wait… now I need to get another set of clothes to be my emergency set…?” Harry nodded.

“Yep! So you can spend a fourth night!” Rose regarded him as he smirked slyly and she shook her head.

“Maybe I should just bring my whole draw of under things here, and I wouldn’t have to worry about it?” The lass asked playfully and his eyes went wide again at the thought of a WHOLE draw full of interesting little articles he might get to see her in!

“Let’s do that! That sounds like a good idea!” He eagerly agreed with such a straight face that it made her giggle.

“Cute little pervert, aren’t you?” The youth pouted and feigned offense.

“You’re the one walking around wearing that sort of thing! Wait a minute…” Realization dawned in his green orbs as they rested on her pelvic area and she blushed; suddenly feeling very self-conscious.

“What kind do you have on under there?” He asked in curious intrigue, only to frown and give an irked little growl when she closed her white lab coat to try and shield herself from that intense gaze.

“I swear I’m going to _burn_ _that thing_!” She stared at him wide eyed.

“You mean my white coat? Whatever for?” The young woman was completely unaware of the disdain he’d developed for the doctor garb. Or really anything that covered her up. And it didn’t hit him that he’d said that out loud until she’d responded to what he’d said.

“It… gets in the way.”

“Of what? Your leering?” He rubbed the back of his head again and she patted his shoulder.

“Most women… would probably not take this as well as I am. I do hope you realize that.” He nodded bashfully.

“They wouldn’t find it adorable, endearing or amusing… at least none that I’ve met. But, thank goodness I’m me and not them, huh?” Harry looked up into her smiling face and found himself returning the warm expression.

“Definitely… so… um… sorry about the weirdness. I’ve just never actually had someone who made me feel all these strange and crazy things before.” It was her turn to nod.

“I know what you mean.”

“You do?!”

“Well yeah! If I didn’t like you so much, do you seriously think I’d be in the good mood I’m in? Or doing or saying anything that I have?” Harry considered this, and though he could probably make some kind of argument if he thought REALLY hard about it and wanted to see something negative about it; which he didn’t, he honestly didn’t think Rose was like that.

“Point taken. Hey Rose…?”

“What is it Harry?” She asked kindly.

“Do you think you could take the damn coat off? It’s _really_ bugging me.” He asked in a pleading way. The man couldn’t help himself… and he really just… didn’t want to either.

“Of course, Sunshine.” Rose chortled and pulled the white garment off; tossing it over the chair her backpack rested on. She playfully spun around.

“How’s that?”

“Better… but you’re still wearing too many layers…” Rose rolled her eyes as she watched him looking her over; a blush creeping over her features again with the way he looked at her.

“Yeah, well Bernard is still here… and I’m pretty sleepy.” Rose quickly covered her mouth to yawn and Harry looked at her with concern. She’d forgotten how tired she was until that yawn snuck up on her.

“Busy day?” She nodded and sighed, going over to sit down beside him on the bed. Resting her head against the headboard and pillows was nice. It wasn’t her own mattress or even room, but with Harry and the symbiote here it didn’t need to be. He grasped the other’s sleeve and tugged on it in a silent request for her to come closer.

“It took forever, but my friend’s patient is going to make it.” Rose informed him as she scooted over to rest her head on his shoulder. His arm wrapped around her and held her close.

“Your friend? Is that the co-worker who called?” The woman chortled tiredly.

“Yes. And don’t worry, she’s no threat to _you_ , Green Eyes.” Harry frowned and looked at her.

“Is that why you keep calling me Green Eyes? Because you think I’m the jealous type?” Rose snuggled closer to him and placed her hand over his chest, just above the bandages.

“Dearheart, I _know_ you’re the jealous type! But that’s okay. So long as you don’t get carried away with it, I’ll take it as a sign that you care. And I call you Green Eyes because you have the most gorgeous ones I’ve ever seen.” He blushed; mostly at the nickname, and smiled some.

“Oh… Okay… I’ll try… but I’m glad you took it the way it was intended. Now why don’t you get undressed and crawl under the covers with me?” It was said with more of a concern that she needed sleep than his usual playful tone. Harry was taking notice of just how tired the poor doctor was.

“What about Alfred out there?” He smirked at her reference and grabbed the phone by his bed. When he dialed the number, a faint ringing could be heard from somewhere a ways outside his bedroom door.

“Yes Master Harry?” Answered Bernard curiously.

“You can go home whenever you’re ready. Rose is pretty tired, so I think she’s going to get some sleep.” Harry informed him.

“Very well. Goodnight Sir. I’ll try to leave quietly.” He caught the amused tone the older man held.

“Thank you, Bernard. Goodnight.” And he ended the call with a soft click. He then turned his attention back to Rose.

“Okay. You can get comfortable now.” Rose mumbled in protest of having to move; having gotten all snug, but he gently nudged her until she moved.

With an adorable little whine, she climbed off the mattress and began pulling off her scrub top. And as much as he would have liked to have kept quiet, he felt he should say something, since fatigue seemed to be catching up with her.

“Uh… Rose? Shouldn’t you be getting changed in the bathroom?” He blushed and wanted to avert his eyes, but at the same time he didn’t. She tossed the scrub top on the floor and blinked; realizing where she was as she had been used to doing this back in her room, that her habit had taken over.

“Oh… Yeah… Okay.” The young woman went over to grab her bag and took it to the bathroom to change; closing the door behind her. It took a few minutes, but the sleepy female crawled under the covers dressed in a black T-shirt and matching pajama bottoms. Still more clothing than he would have liked, but she was tired anyway.

They took up their entwined position from the night before and she was asleep almost as soon as she’d settled in. Harry almost laughed but was afraid he might wake her. He laid beside her; stroking her hair, until sleep befell him too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lmfao! I love writing Harry! He's such an adorable little sociopath! I know I've said that before but he just is! X3 So is the symbiote too! I'm really doing my best to make this story work the way I intend it, but ah well. LOL I get what I get and I can't ask for more than that. XD


	27. Tell Me Where It Hurts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Harry tells Rose where it hurts.

The next morning came and Rose awoke feeling most refreshed! Harry was still passed out beside her and she was a little glad for that, because she wanted to do some more healing. So that’s what she focused on doing ‘till she grew a little tired again and went back to relaxing.

It was harder doing the little, unnoticeable bursts than it was for using it normally because it took much more concentration. It was nice she had plenty of time to recuperate until he woke up though and also that he was currently on a good amount of painkillers; but that still didn’t mean she shouldn’t be careful. When he woke, he kissed the top of her head.

“Good morning Rose.” Harry sounded quite pleased through his grogginess. It was both comical and awesome that the young Osborn hadn’t suspected anything from his quick healing and merely assumed that it was all apart of his own healing factor; seeing as he hadn’t had a chance to test it and figured it simply took a while to work. And though this theory was a rather good one, it was more along the lines of his body having sustained so much damage that it ended up slowing it down just enough for him to have almost ended up like his father had years prior. So, with Rose’s help it was working as it should have… well maybe a little better…

“Likewise Harry.” Rose shifted to detach herself from Harry’s hold around her waist, but as usual he put up a stubborn little fight; mostly to play though.

“I think we should get cleaned up before we start this. Don’t you?” Rose asked as she tried not to laugh; swatting his hand away.

“I don’t really care either way. But, if you insist…” He shrugged with a little smirk and he left her alone long enough for her to get up.

“I think you should come with me.” Rose said as she went around to his side of the bed and looked at him expectantly.

“You think I’m well enough?” He blinked, taken aback.

“Just try. Don’t push yourself though.” He gave a nod and began to slowly shift himself up and off of the bed; Rose assisted him as best she could. And together, he found himself in a sitting position with his legs dangling off of the edge of the bed. Rose placed his hands on her shoulders so that he could use her for support. To which he felt very grateful.

It took a little longer to stand up and get used to being on his own two feet again. His legs felt all wobbly from lack of use and the medication. Rose had her hands on his hips to help hold him up. He found her to be surprisingly strong, then again he didn’t really go around testing the physical strength of every woman he met, so that did not give him much to go on.

He stood there and just moved his legs around to test their stability and then she took her hands off of him and he was able to take his off of her as well. Rose took the I.V. needle out of his arm and unhooked him from the rest of the machines; turning them each off in turn.

“I’ll put you on a new I.V. when we get back, so the pain in your chest won’t bother you.” The lass informed him as she began to lead him to the bathroom. It felt so weird walking again, but with help and patience from _his_ pretty physician, he thought he did pretty good at getting to the sink to brush his teeth.

Once they had both taken turns getting cleaned up in the bathroom; as she figured he needed his privacy as she did hers, they went back to the bed and he sat down on the edge of the mattress.

“I feel like I have rigor mortis… I didn’t realize how bad it was.” He said as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“Tell me where it hurts.” Her tone was of concern.

“Everywhere…” Harry sighed in discomfort as he tried to move his neck around in hopes that that would help.

“Hmm… Wait here. I think I have just the thing.” And before he could ask, she disappeared back into the bathroom. She reappeared with the stuff for his sponge bath; all brand new (so as to prevent any infections or spread of Bactria) and ready to clean him.

“Since you can sit up and stand, this will be a lot easier to do.” Rose told him as she readied the wash cloth in the warm liquid. Seeing as he’d already done this before and more than encouraged her to touch him now, he didn’t see any reason to protest and instead waited for her to start.

As was proper procedure, she started at the top and washed his face and worked her way to his arms, around the bandages of his chest, and so on; rinsing out the rag to keep it warm and clean.

When she reached his waist she had him stand up; kneeling down to better attend to him. He blushed a little as her cloth covered hand washed over his legs, his inner thighs, and then ever so delicately, his genitalia. It really amazed him how professional she could be when it came to this sort of thing.

Once done, Rose took a towel and patted him dry to keep him from getting cold and asked him to sit back down. He obliged and she grabbed a small bottle of something that he hadn’t noticed until now.

She climbed onto the bed behind him and he turned his head stiffly to see her putting lotion onto her hands and rubbing them together to heat it up. Rose smiled reassuringly and gestured for him to turn his head around.

“Relax Harry. I’m going to give you a massage. It’ll help with your sore muscles and circulation.” Warm, slick hands rested on his shoulders before they began working the tension out of him. His head lolled forward and he gave a groan.

Rose giggled softly and worked those nimble hands of hers all over his body; except where it was bandaged. He groaned and gasped at how _good_ it hurt. The more she massaged, the better he felt! Then, Rose moved back off the bed to tend to his legs and he stared at her uncertainly; hoping that his body wouldn’t do anything to embarrass him, and grateful that it hadn’t so far.

The physician was too wrapped up in what she was doing to have noticed though, and went about working the life back into his legs; from his inner thighs to the soles of his feet. Harry wasn’t sure when, but he ended up lying back on the bed and closed his eyes; just relishing in her dexterous ministrations.

It took him about a full minute to realize that she had stopped. He peeked up at her and watched her clean up and return everything before washing her hands thoroughly; he figured the constant hand washing was a habit she’d picked up being a doctor. Rose crawled up beside him and sat Japanese style.

“Feel better?”

“ _Mhmm_. Thank you!” He wanted to pull her close for a kiss, but his whole body felt pleasantly like it was made of jelly. All he could do for now was just lie there and grin up at her.

“My pleasure.” Rose said and then she glanced around the room thoughtfully.

“Time to start getting you back in shape to go about your regular life.” Harry frowned at this. As much as he wanted to get up and moving again, it was only so he could do more things with Rose. The thought of having to return to his dreary life before he’d met her didn’t sound very appealing at all to him.

“And what about you? Will you still be apart of that?” He asked seriously. The young woman’s eyes rested on him.

“Considering we haven’t technically gone on a real date yet, I would hope so. But, I understand what you’re asking. The answer is still yes. I will be apart of your life as long as you want me to be… or until you piss me off I guess.” She smirked airily at this and his heart felt lightened.

“Just checking… So what’s the plan, Doc?” Rose gave him a once over with those grey eyes of hers; every time she looked at him, he kind of felt she was seeing more than anyone ever could… like the woman could see through to his very soul! It was both fascinating and frightening at the same time.

“I think perhaps getting you into some clothes might be a good start. Something comfortable. And then we can get you started in just moving around and maybe a few other things depending on the level of pain in your chest.”

The young man had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes at her professional attitude taking over. He much preferred Rose as herself. All playful, more loving and unpredictable. But, the youth supposed she had to do her job…

So, for the rest of the day he followed _his_ doctor’s orders. Rose even made breakfast again, and Harry got to enjoy watching her this time because he was able to follow her to the kitchen! Yeah… he was pretty happy to be out of bed.

Bernard did his best to stay out of their way; peeking around the corner here and there to make sure the couple were doing fine before going back to his duties. Harry took a break to do his job and went into what was now his office, to tend to some paperwork that he had sent over at some point.

Rose kept herself busy and out of trouble; chatting with her symbiotic partner here and there so it wouldn’t feel neglected or anything. She was glad that it seemed to be trying to make an effort to oblige to her request of trying to accept her feelings for Harry and so forth.

Fin was so very sweet… it was just that the alien was still trying to get over the left over negativity in it’s system created by Eddie and Peter (the losers). And it helped that she let it in little by little on an emotional and mental basis; she was still rather cautious about letting the symbiote get anymore of her powers for now, as that was a horse of a different color.

Harry exited his office a few hours later to find Rose sitting on a window seat as she stared calmly out; though she looked more like she was in her own mind than actually looking at anything.

He went to sit beside her and gave her a gentle tap on the shoulder. The young woman seemed to give a little start, and he blinked at the reaction she had. It was only for a split second, but he swore she looked like she was going to go into some sort of attack mode or something, what with the way her eyes snapped to look at him and narrowed as her body tensed!

But, as she realized who it was, she smiled softly and relaxed. Though, a small flash of worry flashed over her features. Harry thought that was a tad odd, but he felt he could relate. Ever since he’d taken that Goblin Serum, he experienced similar reflexes when really caught off guard.

He hoped Rose had never seen it… Though, if she had, perhaps she understood too and simply decided not to make a comment about it? And if that was the case, what had happened to her that made the young woman develop such reflexes…?

Hmm… He was starting to see just how little he knew about the young woman. That was okay though… like she’d said to him before, it would take time. And Harry Osborn had _every_ intention of taking it.

“Staying out of trouble?” The young man teased lightly.

“Trying to, as always. How was work?” Rose asked; her voice a little hazy from having been caught up in her thoughts. But he knew she was actually paying attention because she turned to face him.

“It went rather well. Thanks for asking. I know it probably isn’t all that interesting to you…” He said as he rubbed the back of his head. It always seemed to dull people when he tried to discuss work… Peter only on rare occasions appeared to show a tiny bit of interest, but only when he mentioned a new product OsCorp was in the process of creating. And even then, it didn’t last too long. After all, his father was the Scientist, Harry was more along the lines of businessman; at least in his own self-depreciating mind anyway.

“It may not be a subject I’m well versed in… but if it is important to you, then I’ll do my best to support you and listen.” The fine physician said with an earnest smile and he felt gladdened.

“Oh… well… thank you Rose.” She gave a curt nod.

“You’re welcome Harry.” The young man thought for a moment and remembered there was something he’d been wanting to discuss when he’d started this conversation, but was sidetracked by her sweetness.

“Um… there’s something that I need to talk to you about.” Rose raised a curious brow.

“And what might that be?” He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. A couple of minutes passed as he considered whether or not to say it…

“I’ve been thinking about all that you’ve been telling me about getting to know each other… And maybe we should slow things down… do you know what I mean?” The young man felt rather nervous, but hoped he’d said that right; it had sounded a lot better in his head. Rose frowned thoughtfully as she listened.

“Slow down… as in, the physical aspect? Or slow down as in you decided you don’t want to do this after all?” Rose asked; trying to keep the hurt out of her voice as she spoke the last part, but Harry picked up on it and responded hurriedly as he held up his hands.

“The physical stuff! Definitely NOT the other thing! No way in Hell! I mean…” Harry blushed and cleared his throat. Rose smiled; glad he still liked her.

“It’s okay. I understand now. And that’s fine by me. I’ve been thinking along similar lines as well.” This seemed to take both the symbiote and Harry by surprise.

“Really?” Harry asked; a little flabbergast but relieved all the same. She nodded.

“Well yeah. I mean, it’s nice and all, but it doesn’t mean as much as it should unless you know and trust the person. Love _does_ have to be involved.” Rose said with a little laugh.

“True…  I’m glad that’s settled. Heh, I kinda thought you might get mad and think I was saying it because I didn’t like you or something… NOT that I don’t… I do… I mean…” Rose rolled her eyes; trying not to laugh as the other carried on rather flustered. So, to cease his endearing blather, she grasped the front of his dark green T-shirt and leaned forward at the same time so as to pull him into a kiss. It certainly did the trick of silencing him; for which he was _most_ thankful for as he gave a low moan and closed his eyes, until their lips parted for air.

“My _dear Harry_ , I don’t upset that easily. If I did… you’d have been strangled by those panties which you so ogled last night. Do you understand?” He shuddered when she said his name like that, as he really liked it… but he couldn’t help smirking at the last bit of what the woman told him in a cool tone that hinted amusement.

“Loud and clear my dear.” Rose noticed Harry did best around her when they had some form of physical contact every now and then. The shrewd young lady figured that a nice kiss when he got riled up like that was good for both of them.

“OH! That’s right! I almost forgot! Since I’m doing so well, OsCorp has decided to throw me a little welcoming back party.”

“That’s nice of them. So what’s the catch?” Harry grinned at her perception.

“Can’t put anything past you, can I?” Rose smirked slyly and shook her head.

“Okay, well… it turns out that this is sort of a cover for what they really want to celebrate, which is the announcement of a new product! They’ve been planning it for a while now, but since I’m getting better, they decided to go ahead and use that as an excuse to go through with it.”

“Two birds, one stone sort of deal I take it.”

“Exactly! And… I was wondering… if you’d be my date?” Harry asked a little shyly.

“I would be honored to accompany you, Harry.” This further brightened his day.

“I’m guessing this is going to be our first date then?” The young Osborn blushed.

“Yeah… I guess it will be.” Apparently the thought just occurred to him.

“How shall I dress?” She asked calmly.

“It’ll be formal.” Rose grinned knowingly at this.

“Oooo! This means I’ll get to see you all dolled up, eh Handsome?” The young man was pretty sure he’d turned about six shades of red at the way she eyed him when she said that. And he wondered if this was how she felt when he was ogling her?

“Um… I guess so…” A slender hand of hers reached over and combed its fingers soothingly through his hair.

“Oh stop freaking out. I’m not going to jump you… well.. I’m not making any promises, but since it’ll be in public and all, then I’ll try to behave. That better?” He gave a nod.

“Good. Now let’s hope you can do the same when you see me in a dress.” His face was still pretty red at trying to imagine how good she might look at the event, but it wasn’t as bad as before. And for the rest of the day they talked over the details of who was picking up whom, and so forth.

Rose made sure Harry was getting a proper amount of pain killers and medication for the rest of the mending of his chest wound, and he was trying not to be childish about his hatred for taking the pills and making faces; even if they did make Rose laugh.

They ate lunch in the kitchen together, and Harry finally got to try some Pumpkin Pudding. To her delight, he said it was pretty tasty and that he’d ask Bernard to get some more when the stores put it in stock for the Holiday Season. Harry mostly liked it because the scent of Pumpkin Spice reminded him of Rose… though he thought she smelled _much_ more delicious than the spices themselves.

The rest of the day went by pretty casually. And when night time came around and it was time for them to go to bed, Rose and Harry crawled into bed together and fell asleep in each others arms…

It was nice that they were enjoying themselves so much, because little did either know, that while they were being all cute and romantic; the pieces of ominous plans were being put into play…

 


	28. You Look So Fine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the night of the party arrives!

Harry and Rose passed the next day in much the same way, except without as much awkwardness this time. The party was to be held on the evening of the day after, and it crept up a lot quicker than either expected.

And Rose was surprised to find that the symbiote was a little more agitated than usual in regards to Harry. It said that it had a bad feeling something was going to happen and that the idiot boy was probably going to get her hurt. The ravenette thought such worrying about her wellbeing was sweet but unnecessary, and that perhaps there was more to it than that.

Upon a few inquiries about how it felt when she and Harry engaged in… certain activities of the romantic kind, it replied that while it could feel how much she enjoyed them and shared in the little experiences as was natural for it’s kind, that it did not partake in the same feelings she felt for the young Osborn.

Rose wondered if perhaps the creature was getting jealous; as it did have a tendency to do from what she’d noticed of it’s feelings towards Peter and the MJ girl, and even when he had shown a liking for Gwen according to the memories, which did carry the feelings of both Parker and symbiote.

“I do care for you Fin… but in a slightly different way than I care for Harry.” Rose made an attempt to explain, but the symbiote didn’t quite understand and she could feel it pouting in a childish way; like a kid would do if they had been told that out of a sibling pair of one brother and one sister that the boy was the “favorite son”, which she could understand was probably not what Fin wanted to be.

 _‘But we are much closer, **can** be much closer, than the goblin goof can ever be! We do not understand…’ _It replied in a huff, and with a sigh Rose tried to think of a way she could explain it… as it was rather confusing to her as well… especially since she could understand where the symbiote was coming from.

“That’s my point exactly! You are much closer to me than he can ever be, but though we are host and symbiote together, and we are fond of each other, I cannot be with you in the same way that I can with Harry, nor love you in the same way…” She heaved a sigh; and both shared in a melancholy silence, as it finally understood what she meant… though, at the moment the symbiont almost wished it didn’t…

The alien feel silent for a while, as it muddled all this over; wondering why things had to be the way they were… then, a thought popped up in it’s head from a conversation _it’s_ host had had with the Scalpel Lady the other day.

 _‘Is-sss our host at least **happy** with us-sss?’ _ The symbiont asked tentatively and she felt a tug on her heartstrings at it even having asked… the dear alien must have been worried about it.

“You know the answer to that is yes Fin. I’m _very_ happy that you are my symbiotic partner and I’ll always do my best to be there for you, okay?” She answered sincerely. It was a while before the alien began speaking to her again, as it seemed quite wrapped up in thought, though apparently in better spirits now that it knew how she felt.

But, it simply told her that it knew she had promised to go with Harry to that stupid (it’s phrasing, not hers) party of his, so it might as well help her get ready, and even made up quite the outfit for her that made it happy when it felt how pleased the physician was; even if she wasn’t the fashion-loving type… which was really quite a feat in itself, Fin thought proudly.

Later on that day, when it came to Harry; whom having always been used to offering to buy something for the person he dated (stupid MJ), Harry kindly offered to purchase her a dress for the event, but Rose told him firmly that she already had something to wear. He was quite taken aback by her declining, but decided that perhaps he shouldn’t try to push it… but mostly because she’d asked him sternly not to. Which the symbiote took spiteful glee in, as it would be the one providing her with what she needed, and that was what it wanted and thought was the way it should be.

So, the evening of the party arrived and Rose had told Harry that it’d be easier on him if she just met him at his place. He wanted to protest at this because he wanted to be all fancy and pick her up, but the concerned doctor explained it was for his benefit and that he could do it another time. Harry wanted to complain about how MJ would have let him pick her up, but then he remembered that she hadn’t given a damn about him much less his wellbeing, so he thought better of it.

Rose felt a little bad for turning down his seemingly generous offers, but she didn’t want him to think she was trying to take advantage of him or anything like that, especially since she had no reason to; nor was it ever her intention.

However, after years of him thinking this was the only way to win someone over or some such non-sense, he was a tad persistent in his compulsion. It had to be done though… The reasons were pretty obvious. Mostly to her, but Harry seemed to catch on after either an explanation or on his own; once he’d done his pouting anyway.

Harry waited anxiously for her to arrive; pacing back and forth. Rose had gone back to her place to go and get ready, and so the young man had been growing more nervous and excited by the minute as the day had progressed. Bernard had attempted to offer a few consoling words, but it didn’t do much to help Harry’s nerves.

The young man looked at his wrist watch again and heaved a sigh. He was waiting in his bedroom, as he wasn’t too fond of the office since it held so many bad memories for him. He barely managed to stay in there to do his work. A smart move on his part was to move most of his dad’s things; like that portrait of him, to his father’s old room.

It was about a minute before he checked his watch again, before going over to a full length mirror he had in the corner of his room to check himself over again. It wasn’t anything too fancy; at least he didn’t think so. Seeing as it was a black suit and tie event, that was how he was dressed… even if it WAS custom made for him.

He frowned at his own scarred reflection though. Wondering if Rose would be embarrassed about having to be seen with him. With another heavy and rather stressed sigh, he adjusted his tie for the umpteenth, before he heard a soft knock on the door and told the elderly man to enter.

“Master Harry, Dr. Aconitum has arrived.” This news caused the young man to spin around so fast that he nearly fell over. The butler frowned in concern for his employer, but Harry did not notice.

“S-she is?! Where is she?” Harry asked enthusiastically as he headed toward the door; peering this way and that around his butler in an effort to try and see if she was around.

“The young lady kindly requested that I tell you she is “happily waiting for you by the entrance”, Sir.” Harry grinned as he heard this and the pleasant fluttering feeling it gave him managed to drown out the gut wrenching nervousness.

“Oh good!” He sighed; placing a hand over his chest in relief. Then he did his best to regain the cool and clam demeanor a man of his status was supposed to exhibit around associates or employees, etc. in the hopes that it might help make a good impression on his date.

“Excuse me Bernard. Can’t keep _my date_ waiting. Now can I?” He couldn’t help saying as the butler gave a little bow and stepped aside.

“No indeed, Sir.” The old man was trying very hard to keep a straight face. Perhaps it was all the soap operas and romance related media he’d seen over the years, but he quite thought the budding couple to be quite amusing.

The impatient lad tried to keep an even stride, but the closer he drew to his prize, the more hastened his pace became! And as he arrived about ten or so feet away from the entrance, he stopped dead and felt as if his heart had just done the same!

“Good evening Harry!” Rose greeted warmly with a smile to match; turning around at the sound of approaching footsteps. Harry stood awestruck and staring at the woman before him.

For this particular occasion, since she saw that it was important to Harry in more ways than one, and also seeing as it was their first date, Rose had the symbiote whip up something she hoped would be special for the occasion.

The dress she wore was strapless and hunter green in color. The fabric looked soft and smooth; almost as if it were fluid. And the design was simple yet unique, as the material was thinly folded over and spiraled all the way from the top to the bottom so that it gave an elegant twist; like the petals of a rose that was just beginning to bloom (if it were upside-down). It accentuated her shapely form _quite nicely_.

The hem had a sharper shape to it than petals, and better resembled the leaves as it ended just above her ankles, so that her matching strapped heels could be seen; they were pretty short heels, but it suited her style somehow.

And of course no ensemble is complete without accessories! She wore a pair of matching green earrings in the shape of tiny roses (of course). The young woman wore no other jewelry, nor make-up; and Harry didn’t think she needed to either! Though it did seem she had applied a transparent gloss of some kind that added to the luscious appeal of her pouty, rosy lips!

Her shoulder length, raven black hair that was normally nice and feathery, had been paid more attention to and looked to be a little wavier and silkier now. And seeing as he liked playing with it anyway, the young man had the strong urge to go over and run his fingers through it.

But, that might end up leading to other things that would probably cause them to miss the party entirely… so he took a deep breath and tried to get a hold of his composure. All in all, Harry thought she looked positively radiant tonight!

Meanwhile! Rose had been busy scrutinizing his appearance as well. Like how he had his hair brushed and styled out of his face in a more businesslike manner that she was sure he typically wore for work.

His pitch black suit looked sharp on him and fit him in _all the right places_! And the dark color seemed to make those exuberant emerald eyes of his stand out most handsomely! Both thought that the other certainly cleaned up _very well._

“You… look _beautiful_ Rose!” Harry said breathlessly, causing a pink hue to grace her fair complexion.

“T-thank you Harry… You don’t look so bad yourself!” Rose replied in a similar tone, and his eyes widened when he saw her unconsciously lick her lips.

“I… um… thanks…” A brief hush fell between them, until Bernard cleared his throat and both looked a tad startled and glanced away from one another with a faint blush. The butler smiled and shook his head.

“Do pardon my interruption young Master and Lady, but I do believe you two should get going or else you may be late to the party.” It seemed they had momentarily forgotten about it. Harry cleared his throat and tried to look all cool again while Rose looked away; trying to hide a small smile at that. Bernard walked over and held the door open for them.

“Have a wonderful time you two!” Rose smiled kindly to him and bid him goodnight as she exited (ladies first and all that).

“Thanks Bernard. You can take the rest of the night off.” Harry told him and the other nodded.

“Yes Sir. Please remember to take good care of the young lady, Master Harry.” The butler kindly advise. Harry tried not to laugh nervously about that.

“I’m not sure it’s her that needs taking care of…”

“You’ll do fine Sir. Just be yourself.” Harry looked surprised, not really knowing if that was such a good idea or not as the image of his Goblin Gear popped into his head.

“Right… Well, goodnight.” And Harry headed out to find Rose; who was waiting patiently for him not too far away. The two left for the ride Harry had waiting to take them to the event, as Bernard watched them with a slightly concerned expression.

“I do hope he’ll be all right…” He shut the door and went back to his duties; wondering how the two would do and hoping Rose would be able to take good care of the young Master. The somewhat sagely old fellow wasn’t quite sure why… but he had the sneaky feeling that something was going to go wrong tonight…

　


	29. Shock and Awe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Harry and Rose have their own bit of fun at the party before Harry gets a real "shock".

Upon reaching the vehicle; which she was thankful wasn’t a showy limo, but a simple yet still stylish black four door car with the window in-between the driver and the riders so that they could have privacy. Harry opened the door for her and she smiled graciously; grasping onto the skirt of her dress and climbing into the back seat.

The young man made sure nothing was going to get closed in the door before he did so, and then went over to his side and climbed in opposite her. He curtly told the driver where to go and after the man politely rolled up the divider, the vehicle began to move and they were off!

For a while they rode alongside one another in silence; each stealing a glance of the other from time to time. Harry was suffering from a potentially disastrous mixture of panic, paranoia, shyness, nervousness, excitement, and… yeah… it was bad…

Rose was feeling oddly timid and anxious herself; though most of it she was merely picking up off of Harry, but still. However, she decided to try and break the ice somehow. It had to be better than this deafening silence.

“Hey Harry… I bet you didn’t know this...” The man in question turned his head to look at her with curiosity, so Rose continued; glad to have gotten his attention.

“… but this is the first date that I have ever been on.” Harry gawked at her.

“You’ve _got_ to be kidding me?!” He exclaimed in shock, but as he saw her frown and shake her head seriously, his tone softened and he leaned forward; his voice much lower and made calm as he felt bad for how he reacted.

“ _How_ is that possible?” She merely gave a halfhearted shrug and looked down at her hands; that she had folded in a ladylike manner in her lap. The young man realized that he must have made her feel bad somehow and that of course bothered him.

“I mean that in a good way Rose.” He scooted over and placed a hand lightly over hers and was relieved when she didn’t pull away and instead looked up at him to listen to what he had to say.

“I just can’t believe you’ve never been on a date before!” Rose shifted so that she was facing him better and moved her hands in order to hold his between hers.

“Well, I haven’t met someone who caught my interest. That’s all… It’s very hard to find someone who you want to put your trust in, you know.” Harry nodded and smiled a little.

“That’s pretty true. It’s trying enough just making friends!”

“Exactly! Besides, I was focused on my work. I didn’t have any real desire to try and seek out that kind of companionship.” Harry raised an inquisitive brow.

“So what made you want to seek out mine?” Rose gave him a surprised look as if she thought he knew.

“Not a very tough puzzle to crack Harry. I find you fun, fascinating, and unfathomably adorable… among other charming traits you have that make up who you are of course. And I think it helped that you liked me too.”

“Heh, well yeah, it helps. I think you’re brilliant! And I don’t just mean you are smart, which you are, but you are also very lovely and talented. If I had known this was your first date ever, I would’ve arranged for something that’s actually romantic! You know, with flowers, and dinner, and that sort of thing. Geez… I feel _really_ bad now…” The young man sighed, but when he heard Rose chortle good naturedly, he felt a little better.

“It’s fine. I’m just happy I get to have it with you. That’s all that matters to me. _Plus_! I get to see you all handsomely dressed!” The lass leaned forward so that their foreheads were touching and her tone became if possible, even sweeter.

“And as much as having one of those classic styled romantic dates with you sounds, I’ll take having pancakes beside you in bed _any day_. Never really been into the idea of fancy and extravagant dates and stuff like that anyway.” Harry laughed. Rose certainly was a strange one, but he really liked that about her…

After that, they found that the mood had lightened considerably and the ride seemed a lot shorter than it was. The driver rolled down the window to see the two of them still sitting together and holding hands, as they conversed quietly and pleasantly. He announced that they had arrived and Harry told her to wait a minute so that he could get out of his side and open the door for her.

Rose smiled amiably at his gentlemanly gesture and accepted his arm as he extended it to her; entwining her own around his before they made their trip inside the building and up to the floor that the party would be held on.

The tension between them had diminished to a more tolerable level and had become more of a quaint excitement as to what would happen now. Harry told Rose that there would be dancing and grinned when he saw her face light up.

She blushed adorably and asked if he would dance with her and he of course agreed, because she said the only time she danced was when a female friend of hers had taught her when they were younger and she’d always wanted to try it with whomever she became involved with.

 _‘Hmmm… First date, first dance… I wonder what other firsts she’s missed out on…?’_ Harry couldn’t help but find himself thinking as they reached the floor with a little ping of the elevator. They disembarked and they saw that the large and fancy room was quite crowded!

Harry was a little puzzled when Rose began looking around as if she were expecting to find someone, but then she grinned and lead him over to two other women; one was about Rose’s age and was blonde, and the other appeared to be younger and had umber hair and a deadpan expression.

“Harry, I’d like you to meet my good friend and fellow physician, Dr. Tabitha Tenshi! And her _date_ Ms. Gwen Stacy. Gals, this is _my_ date, Harry Osborn. See Tabi! I told you he was handsome, didn’t I?” Rose said in giddy tone, as she was pretty glad that the guy she really liked could finally meet her friend Tabitha.

Harry and Gwen blushed. Harry because he was complimented sweetly by Rose again, and also because her friend was a lesbian. Not that he was prejudice, it was just not something he had much of a response to what with the way she’d announced it.

Gwen was blushing for similar reasons concerning Rose just blurting it out, and also because of how when the other two had approached, Tabitha had wrapped her arm around Gwen’s possessively yet securely. Tabitha quirked a brow at hearing this was the person Rose was dating now and her hold on the blonde loosened a tad as she gave a confirming nod to Rose’s question so she wouldn’t persist in pestering her about it.

“Evening Mr. Osborn. It is nice to finally meet the person my _associate_ here won’t _shut up_ about.” The brunette stated stoically; though the green eyed lad took note on her odd way of phrasing things. Harry blinked and looked to Rose who smirked blushingly.

“Really?” He asked in disbelief as he looked back to the bespectacled woman, who nodded and looked a touch irked.

“Yes… the _Weed_ here seems to be _hopelessly_ captivated by you… but now that I see you… I suppose it makes sense.” Tabitha remarked in a contemplative manner.

Harry frowned at the woman referring to Rose as a “Weed” but he heard Rose snicker at the term and figured it was some weird banter they shared. Though, at the captivated remark… he wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. He knew Rose liked him and all… but “captivated”?

“It does?” He asked bemusedly, and Tabitha flashed a small yet snarky smirk at his date.

“I would say so… She’s always had _strange_ tastes. A real _renegade_ , you could say…” The boffin never took her eyes off of Rose as she spoke; her tone hinted with knowing and amusement. He looked over in time to see Rose stick her tongue out at the shorter female, as he wondered just what Tabitha had meant…

“Speaking of _strange_ , Tabi. I didn’t think you’d actually show. This isn’t really something you’d attend, even if it does involve events of the Scientific nature. Could it be Ms. Stacy _persuaded_ you somehow, hmm?” Rose asked suggestively. Gwen flushed and Tabitha shot her friend a glare.

“ _No._ I wanted to see what new product OsCorp is presenting… But, Gwen said she wanted to come with me so-”

“You asked me!” Gwen chimed in chidingly and Tabitha frowned; her face becoming the faintest hue of pink.

“ _Fine!_ I _extended_ the offer that she might _join_ me in the unveiling… _Happy_?” Tabitha aimed the question at her blonde companion; who looked like she was trying very hard not to smile.

“ _Very_. Thank you Tabitha.” Gwen said and gave the arm around hers a little squeeze. Tabitha mumbled something about “Weeds” and such that none of them had been able to decipher as Rose laughed and Harry felt like he had missed something. Then he blinked as a thought occurred to him.

“Wait… Gwen Stacy? Didn’t you kiss Spider-Man?” Harry asked as he remembered hearing the name before. However, this did not have the desired effect he thought it would. Gwen suddenly looked a little regretful and a little nervous, while Tabitha just looked what could only be described as _murderously pissed off_!

“That is a bit of a touchy subject Harry… Sorry, he didn’t know. Guess I should’ve mentioned it.” Rose said apologetically, and he noticed her slowly move herself so as to protectively cover Harry and get between him and the brunette. And was that a scalpel in the woman’s hand?! No… that couldn’t be right… he must have imagined it.

“I-it’s okay Rose. Well, it was very nice to meet you Harry. And good seeing you again Rose! I think I should get Tabitha here something to eat!” Gwen said hastily and as politely as she could, as she had begun doing the same stealthy maneuvering as Rose had, but with Tabitha; as she drew the angry boffin off in search of sweets to hopefully distract her.

“Well… _that_ was weird… wonder why that’s such an upsetting issue?” Harry mused in confusion. Rose sighed and shook her head.

“Long story… but basically Spider-Man did something to upset Gwen, and Tabitha being Tabitha is NOT very happy about it. I can’t blame her though… if someone did something to you, I’d be downright _murderous_!” Her explanation started out a little exasperated, but upon speaking about Harry, her tone resembled Tabitha’s and all he could do was find it startling. He hoped she never looked at him like that…!

“How do you know Gwen anyway?” Rose shrugged nonchalantly.

“I met her at the hospital once. She’s a nice kid and really good for Tabi to have around.” He gave a nod. The young man could relate to that in his own way.

With that out of the way, Harry took his turn to lead her around for a while. It would be a while before the big reveal as everyone needed time to mingle and so forth, and the dancing wasn’t until a little before the unveiling. Rose stayed quiet unless a business associate or someone of influence spoke to her and so forth; in which the woman became a social chameleon and they kindly complimented him on his charming date.

Though she really hated this sort of scene, the physician knew it was important to Harry and so she decided to pretend that she was attending one of the hospital’s events and mingle.

He was glad for this, but he didn’t like some of the looks _his_ Rose was receiving. And after about the third look he caught, he took off his jacket and draped it gentlemanly over her shoulders. Rose smiled as she realized he was jealous about something and being all sweetly possessive, so she made no comment about it.

Rose was used to adapting and was trying to be civil for Harry’s sake; as this was all for his business. She knew he’d try to do the same for her if it were the other way around… or at least she hoped. There were more than just people from his company here. There were potential clients and others who would be good for business, and of course the competition who wanted to scope out what their opposition was up to.

One such man approached them. He had sandy blonde hair, brown eyes and though he looked to be about Harry’s age, he held himself in the manner of someone much older; it reminded her a little of a very rigid and haughty version of Bernard. Though the man’s most distinctive trait however was his beaky nose, and how Rose thought he looked a lot like a buzzard with hair…

“Back from the dead I see, _Osborn!_ Pity you didn’t stay that way.” The blonde man said snidely and arrogantly. Yep! It was official now. Rose did NOT like this guy!

“Oh, there you are Avis. Speaking of death, how’s that bag of dust you call a boss? Still having you do all his work for him?” Harry quipped coolly and with far more smooth professionalism. Rose was quite impressed.

Now she got to see business Harry and so far, he was pretty cool! Sure, he’d been businesslike and great so far, but now he was with a rival of sorts. And Rose wanted to see how he handled himself in various situations.

“I’m more than happy to work for Mr. Toomes. He at least runs his company with competence!” Avis spat acidly and Harry smirked aloofly.

“Oh really? Then care to explain why he has you snooping around _my_ exposition? If he were _really_ as capable as you say, he’d not only be doing all the work he’s making his favorite Sky Rat do, but he also wouldn’t be worrying about what my company is up to.” Avis bristled as he clenched and unclenched his fists repeatedly, while Harry continued awesomely.

“But who could blame him? OsCorp is by far the more superior choice in terms of aeronautics. We had our glider design _months_ before Toomes Aerodynamics!”

“Why you insufferable little-!” Said “Sky Rat” began sputtering angrily and was about to start ranting and raving at the young Osborn; who just wore that damn smug look on his face, when he noticed a young woman beside Harry, who unconsciously was giving him quite an intimidating glare; which her date didn’t seem to notice.

“And _who_ might I ask, is this bewitching young lady?” The womanizing man asked; changing his tone to a more charming one as he usually did upon seeing an attractive woman. Harry’s smirk twitched as he tried not to let the other see that such a thing as Rose being flirted with bothered him.

The bewitching young woman in question didn’t find the man one bit charming, and neither did the symbiote; whom in fact disliked the man so much that it found the Goblin Brat’s presence more preferable… which is saying something! Harry very reluctantly decided that he should try to remain calm and pretend like it didn’t bug him.

“Rose, this is Arthur Avis. He works for Adrian Toomes of Toomes Aerodynamics. Avis, this is Dr. Rose Aconitum.” Arthur reached out to politely take her hand to kiss it, but Rose snatched her hand back, as she folded her arms over her chest before he could come within a foot of her. The man looked taken aback and was obviously bothered by her rejection, but he merely smiled; though Rose thought he did so with all the charm of a snake about to strike.

“It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Ro-”

“Dr. Aconitum, if you please Sir.” She cut in briskly and Harry fought against the proud grin he wanted to direct at her.

“My sincerest apologizes, _Dr._ Aconitum. Would you mind so terribly if I stole you away from your… er… _date_?” Arthur asked; flashing Harry a contemptuous glance at the word “date”. Rose didn’t even hesitate in her response; speaking clearly and concisely as she did so.

“I am unwilling to acquiesced to your request, as I would mind _quite_ terribly in fact. I very much prefer my _date_ ’s company to yours… and I mean that in the most offensive way possible.” Rose told him in a calm yet icy tone. The man gaped at her for a moment and Harry tried desperately to keep from bursting out into a fit of raucous laughter!

“Is that so?” Arthur asked between clenched teeth.

“Yes. That is _so._ I’d have had no problem with you Mr. Avis, but one thing I will simply NOTtolerate is my dear Harry being harassed by you and then your further insulting of my character by assuming you could even _attempt_ to charm me away from him.” Harry wished he was recording this! He didn’t think Rose could EVER be colder to anyone than she normally was to Peter! And even then he thought Pete deserved it. But this was just priceless! Heck, even MJ had fallen for the Sky Rat’s guile and ended up ditching him for a while when he’d taken her to one of his other social events!

Avis just stared at her for a few seconds, as he fumed and tried to keep it together. Well, even he had to admit that the woman poised an interesting challenge of sorts. Due to his job and income it wasn’t very often he was rejected, much less so icily… but he’d still been insulted and he would try to make sure she paid dearly for it somehow! For now though…

“I see… it would seem I have interrupted your evening, Dr. Aconitum. Please forgive me. I meant no disrespect to you.” He said with a half bow. Rose wasn’t buying it.

“I cannot forgive that which is not genuine.” Harry smirked and put his arm around Rose’s shoulders as if to say “SUCK IT BITCH!”

“Come on, _Rose._ I think he’s had enough humble pie for one night.” Rose nodded and let herself be led away by Harry, and he began snickering once they were out of earshot of Avis; who stood there looking like he might spontaneously combust from all the fuming he was doing. 

“Oh man… that was priceless! Did you see the look on his face when he kept trying to pull that nice guy crap and you were all “DENIED!”?” They went over to a quiet spot on the balcony outside, and Harry leaned against the stone railing; grinning airily at the lovely young woman.

“Yeah, it was pretty fun working together like that.” Rose smirked slyly as she pulled his jacket closed over herself and leaned beside him. They shared a look and laughed for a little, before settling down and enjoying the evening air.

“I’m glad you came with me tonight… would’ve been insufferable all by myself.” Harry said in a quiet yet good natured mood. Rose rested her head against his shoulder and smiled.

“Me too. Maybe next time we can go for pizza though.” The good doctor joked and he chuckled.

“Sounds good to me. Or just stay home and watch a movie.” Rose turned her head to look at him curiously.

“With pizza?” He looked at her and smirked.

“Only if you buy.” She grinned.

“It’s a deal.” They gave one another a look of mock seriousness and shook the other’s hand. Then they both grinned and were about to lean in to kiss when… BOOM!!!

“What the hell?!” Harry exclaimed as he instinctively wrapped his arms protectively around Rose; who in turn had put hers around his waist.

“The explosion came from near the elevator…!” Rose stated as she, Harry, and the symbiote went on full alert!

“I better go check it out…” Harry said as he let go of her and made to move away. But her arms were holding him back.

“Like hell you will! You’re still injured. I’ll go check it out.” She said sternly as she let go of him and moved to do so, but he placed a hand on her shoulder and looked at her seriously.

“We’ll both go.” After a nod, they moved to peer inside.

People were running this way and that; like a flock of frightened chickens, screaming and shouting, and knocking one another over to get away from the area the explosion had originated! Though the reason for this was due to the cause of the destruction.

And they came in the form of about twelve armed men or more, lead by three who looked rather strange. One was a rather diminutive man who wore a strange looking full body suit that was red, grey and dark grey in color.

The second man was quite large and brutish in stature and appearance; he wore a suit similar to that of the small man; except his mask had two tubes on either side of it and his costume had thick armor covering most of it.

And the third man was by far the most bizarre! He wore a suit that covered his torso in a yellow quilt like material with black and red in various spots; and on either of his hands appeared to be some sort of silver colored gauntlets, but it was obvious to Rose and Harry that they were some sort of device. Though what it did, they weren’t sure… yet!

 

 

The quilted man appeared to be the leader, as he was barking orders and gesturing to his men, who moved into position, and a few of the armed men just continued to enjoy causing a disruption by firing off their guns in various directions; though they were aimed mainly at the high walls and ceiling.

 _‘Damn! This isn’t good! I can’t change in front of Harry! But… I have to do something to protect him…!’_ Rose thought as she bit her lip. The symbiote suggested knocking him out, but she made the point that they’d have to explain such odd behavior and that might not bode well.

 _‘Crap, crap, crap, crap, craaaaaaaaaaap! This blows! If I use any of my enhancements or call my glider, Rose will find out who or even worse, **what** I am!’ _ Harry didn’t like this at all, but he needed to keep his girlfriend safe!

They both had the idea that; if they could get the other to a secure spot, then the other could take care of these guys and come back when it was all over! Harry wasn’t sure if his chest would allow him to do much though…

“Rose, I need to get you out of here.”

“You’re a higher priority than I am. You’re wounded, plus I’m a doctor. I have to treat the idiots out there getting wounded.” Harry glared at her and she matched it with one of her own. Ugh… he had to give in… or at least pretend to!

“Fine! Lead the way!” He said in frustration. At least if he could get his gear then he’d be able to come back and save her! However, he was more than impressed with what she did next.

“Whatever happens, do what I tell you and stay quiet.” Rose told him and then grabbed him by his forearm and made him follow her as they both ducked down and headed for the exit; dodging behind overturned tables and other objects or people in the room. The way she moved reminded him of a soldier or a ninja that he’d seen in movies. And he began to wonder how she seemed so used to doing things like this!

Once they were in the clear and she had successfully gotten Harry safely to the stairwell; since it would be stupid to use the elevator with explosions and the other people crowding around it like idiots, she opened the door and pushed him passed the threshold with a stern look.

“Now get out of here! I’ll find you when I’m done here.” Harry wanted to argue but there wasn’t any time to waste. He begrudgingly nodded and headed down the stairs as she turned sharply and left.

As soon as he heard her footsteps fade and the door shut, he headed up the next flight of stairs and exited out to the roof; punching in a few codes on his phone to summon his spare glider with the gear attached to it! It wasn’t so much a spare, as it was the hover board styled device he’d built before the cooler one he preferred; but he had it for emergency uses such as this and was glad that he did! Seeing as the other was still damaged from that whole Sandman/Eddie Brock battle.

Cleverly he had been able to enter in a code that would call the gadget here while they were arguing about who was going to leave, so what he entered into the phone now would allow the device to know his current location. He couldn’t help the little smirk as the realized that he technically had an “app for that”.

The stealthy board stopped a few feet away from him about a minute after reaching the roof and he geared up as quick as he could! Hopping onto the board, he sighed heavily; wishing he’d have opted for pancakes in bed after all…

Rose meanwhile, had ducked behind a table and almost as instantly as she’d crouched down, her clothes shifted into her costume! She went to stealth mode and navigated through the room a lot quicker and a lot easier.

The young anti-hero wasn’t all that worried for Tabitha or Gwen, as she knew Tabitha could take care of them both; and plus Gwen was under the boffin’s tutelage so she’d be okay… hopefully.

The rest of the guys didn’t seem like they’d be all that hard to take out if she went about it right, but the quilt guy… he seemed like he could pose a problem. Well, no time like the present! Time to get to work!

A black blur caught her attention and the next thing she knew, she had to lean back to avoid the orange sphere that whizzed by her head and at three of the guys shooting erratically! There was a bang that sounded like a ghostly shriek and a burst of green! And the men were blown back against whatever lay behind them!

Rose took that opportunity to bind them where they lay with webbing for good measure, as Harry flew in on his glider; all geared up in his Goblin garb! The young woman felt like facepalming! He was injured and shouldn’t even BE here! Harry could be too stubborn for his own good sometimes, but at least she knew he had good intentions and was just trying to help.

“I should’ve webbed him to the wall or something…” She muttered exasperatedly, and found that Fin agreed wholeheartedly; reiterating it’s idea to knock Harry unconscious, but for reasons that weren’t as good as Rose’s. Harry hovered high; weaving this way and that quite skillfully as they shot at him.

The alien clad woman concentrated on the guns in the hands of the men and they began to scream in pain as the metal grew molten hot and started to melt on them! The quilted man saw this and wondered what was going on.

And when Harry went to use this opening to try and dive down to attack the villain, he learned the hard way exactly what those gauntlets were for! Infinita’s eyes went wide with alarm when they (Rose and the Symbiote) saw a blast emanate from the quilted man’s hands and knock Harry back with _such_ force, that he flew off of his shattering glider…!

 

 


	30. Knock 'Em Dead!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Infinita teaches the Enforcers a lesson about mistreating her Goblin! 
> 
> Or where there is a fight scene and lots of stuff happens! DUN DUN DUUUUN!

"No…!" Rose gasped breathlessly; and even the symbiote felt a pang of panic as they teleported right behind the guised Goblin just before he hit the ground! She used her own body as a shock absorber; clutching her disguised date close to her body. Infinita had teleported them into the room opposite this one, so that in case she was knocked out she'd have time to recuperate and protect Harry from anything else.

Harry wasn't sure what the heck had just happened. First he was soaring through the air and then it felt like someone had grabbed him! His chest hurt like hell! He was pretty sure that what ever kind of blast had hit him must have busted up some of the ribs that had almost healed and probably one or two that hadn't been damaged before.

The young man could taste the familiar and very unpleasant metallic tinge of blood as he coughed painfully when he tried to breath. Upon stiffly and tortuously rolling over to try and get up, did he realize with shock that there was a costumed woman under him! Once he was off of her, Infinita began moving again. She could smell fresh blood coming from him and gathered herself up as quickly as she could. Harry saw that the woman was getting up and began trying to summon his glider to him; not knowing that it had been trashed moments ago and was not responding.

"Oh no you don't!" Infinita said as she grabbed the young man by the arm. He was about to retract the blades on his arm to attack her when she pulled her hands away to show she meant no harm.

"You're injured. We smell the blood on you." Harry was taken aback.

"Let me handle this." The woman told him seriously.

"No! There's… someone in there… I have to save!" He managed to say inbetween labored breaths; trying hard not to cough. Rose wanted to smack the hell out of him.

"She's safe, trust me."

"Yeah, well I don't! Now… if you'll excus-" He tried to say but doubled over and clutched his chest as a fit of painful coughs racked his body; red droplets spattering on the floor. Infinita growled in irritation and grabbed his face and made him look at her. His eyes widened behind his mask as he saw the black material of her costume pull away to reveal the face of none other than Rose!

"Trust me now?" The woman asked in a stern yet level tone. She took his silence as confirmation and stood up to go back to the "party". He grabbed her arm.

"We're discussing… this later." He said in a gruff and strained tone; breaking out into a small fit of coughing again.

"Damn straight we are! Now stay here and out of trouble _Gobby dearest_. _**There's vengeance to be wrought**_!" The fierce looking anti-hero declared in a deadly, low tone that made Harry shudder; though he wished he hadn't, since it just hurt like hell. Even Fin was pissed; but mainly due to Rose being upset… or at least that was the story it was sticking too.

They could hear how labored Harry's breathing was though, and decided that he needed a little treatment to keep him stable until she and the symbiote could take care of those losers who dared to harm him and come back to finish the healing. Infinita formed a little black tentacle that reached up and covered Harry's mouth; eliciting a startled and now muffled yelp from the young man.

"Shhhh, it's okay. We're just trying to help." Rose then made her canine's longer and sunk the newly formed fangs into the section where shoulder met throat; the thin teeth like hypodermic needles as they injected an anesthetic so that Harry wouldn't pass out or go into shock from the pain alone.

At first he cried into the tentacle, but after a few seconds he calmed down and his breathing wasn't AS labored as before. Now, she decided that until she could treat him properly and with actual time to do it, she had to think fast as to what Tabitha might do, and was happy when an idea popped into her head!

Placing her hands on either side of Harry's face and removing the tentacle which retracted itself back into her attire, Infinita began using one of her sub-powers of the Molecular Manipulation power she'd obtained from her dearly demented friend, which was known as Molecular Immobilization; it would allow her to place Harry into a state of suspended animation of sorts so that she'd have the time she needed to deal with the crooked party crashers and get him someplace better suited for treatment.

Feeling much better about Harry's condition in regards to him being able to make it, she turned around so that the sight of the frozen and wounded young man wouldn't make her leave with him instead. But she knew they couldn't just do that… who knows why they were even at the party in the first place!

The Anti-Hero heaved a sigh and in the blink of an eye Infinita was gone! She reappeared back in the party room to see the "Quicker Picker Upper" and his crew trying to carry off what must be the item OsCorp was to present. The young man had mentioned to her that it was a prototype of some sort; but he wasn't allowed to go into detail.

They (she and Fin) went back into stealth mode; wanting to make these jerks punish for what they did to Harry! And the next thing any of the men knew was that they were being attacked by something they couldn't see!

One by one, each would get swooped up by an invisible force or entity. And before the quilted man knew what was happening, he and his two weird looking associates were the only ones that weren't currently struggling against the black webbing around their throats and tethered them to the ceiling; like one of those old trees people used to string up criminals on years ago and leave them there to die!

"What in tarnation goin' on here?! Ox! Ricochet! Get them down, now! We have work to do!" The quilted man ordered, as he tried to find the one responsible.

"We wouldn't do that if we were _you_!" Taunted a voice from somewhere to the man's left. He quickly turned toward the sound and sent a blast; blowing a large hole in the wall as a result!

"Missed us! Over here _**Bounty Boy**_!" Egged the eerie voice again, and he shot in that direction too; starting to feel unnerved and plain pissed off that he wasn't getting any work done.

"Well this is boring. So tell me Kid Quilt! Before we kick your sorry ass, what's your name? We wanna know what to put on your _**grave**_." Infinita quipped in a rather morbid manner.

"The name's Shocker you freak! Come out and fight like'a man!" A cruel laugh rang throughout the room; causing the last three men standing to get even more creeped out by who or whatever this thing was!

"Wouldn't even if we were!" And as Shocker went to blast the spot the sound had come from, did he receive a sharp blow to the back of the head that knocked him face first to the ground!

Infinita stood on Shocker’s back and gave his head a good stomping; though finding his head to seem a bit odd and wondered if he had some kind of armor on underneath the quilt pattern, but then something or rather, someone came up behind her and grabbed her! She surmised they figured who ever was playing “Dance, Dance, Revolution” with their boss’s head might be there to grab. Well, it _was_ a good guess.

The large brutish man with the armor, whom she figured was probably the guy called "Ox" tried to put the squeeze on her, so she phased through him; but not before grabbing his heart on her way out! The symbiotic host allowed herself to be seen as the big man's body slowly fell forward and landed right on the Shocker fellow, who yelled out in pain and comically enough, shock!

However, upon having fazed through Ox, did the Anti-Hero's eyes widen in surprise. For you see, the heart that they THOUGHT they had pulled out of the man's chest wasn't even a real heart… it was a power core of the robot that was masquerading itself off as the man called Ox!

And while this WAS a bit of a weird discovery, it did nothing to deter Infinita from their desire to destroy these bastards. In fact, if they were all robots, it would just make all of this a little easier to deal with… even if she knew they'd have to track down the mechanical menaces creator and torment whoever that may be…!

"Heh, talk about eat your heart out!" Infinita crushed the artificial organ effortlessly in her hand and tossed it behind her and right into the face of the last loser, _who just had to be_ Ricochet! Ricochet had been in the process of trying to run up and attack her from behind with a metallic collapsible staff he had with him, but he only ended up with some greasy gadget gore to the face instead!

"You must be Ricochet… Lame name by the way." They belittled, as the man wiped the flecks of oil off of his face and made to attack her. She did have to admit, that for a robot (if he was one too, which she decided to leave as a mystery for the moment), he was rather skilled with fighting, bouncing around and all that, BUT he wasn't fighting someone lame like Spider-Man; who didn't like hurting his opponents but just enough to incapacitate them. He was fighting _Infinita_ ; a woman, who thoroughly enjoyed instilling unspeakable horrors upon anyone who dared to piss her off! Not counting the symbiote who shared in her views and feelings… Sooooooooo!

When he went to take what he thought was a precisian strike of some martial artsy move that was intended to hit her right in the face; the wicked woman extended those razor sharp claws of hers, with her fingers held together like a blade! And she made this connect with his fist!

Using his own force against him, combined with her own; he ended up ramming her claws clean up the middle of his fist and arm! Right up to the elbow! The man didn't cry out, but what was left of his split arm DID spark and smoke! The robot stared blankly at it's injured arm; as if wondering what the heck just happened!

Infinita flicked the oil and bits of metal off her talons with a little flourish of her wrist. They raised the hand up that had been their "handy" weapon and was about to bring it down through the distracted mechanical man's skull, when something sticky webbed itself to her wrist!

"Hello _Spidey_ , come to watch a real hero in action have you?" She didn't even have to look behind her to know the web-head was up on the ceiling a ways behind her. With a sharp tug, she snapped the webbing and took a swift step to the side in a manner that made her look like a little twirl as she turned to face him.

"You are _no_ hero! You're a monster! Look at what you've done to these people!" The red and blue clad hero cried out in anguish as he landed down on the ground; his body language conveying how upset he was. But she could care less.

"In case you haven't realize, they are not only criminals, but these two are robots, you arachni-idiot. They were trying to steal that device over there. However, if you really want them, you can have them. I have more important priorities... Oh, and I think I may have missed one, so have fun with that. Tootles!" Infinita told him; giving a little wave and teleporting back to the room Harry had stayed in

She found the wounded man leaning against the wall where they had left him; he was still frozen thank goodness. Even with his mask on, it didn't seem like he was doing too well though. And that renewed the anger and panic gnawing at their insides.

The anti-hero took great care in picking him up into their arms as they unfroze him; he made a little groan as he acknowledged her return. Harry was just glad things didn't feel all weird anymore… he had no idea what Rose did to him but he was aware that something HAD happened at least.

"Hold on Dearheart. I'll take care of the rest." Now with him securely in her arms bridal style, she took them back to her place. Rose wanted to tend to Harry WITHOUT any damn interruptions for once. And even the symbiote could not help but to stay silent and let her do what needed to be done; it's host was going through enough right now…


	31. Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which revelations are made for all!

Once they appeared in her bedroom, she laid him gently on her bed and proceeded to remove his costume. The simplest and least painful way she could do this was to get a good hold on the front and then phase the material off of him.

Infinita gave an annoyed growl that he had his black suit from the party on under this, but went ahead and removed it in the same fashion; though she was quite tempted to just shred it off with her claws since it took less energy.

The poor young man lay in only his boxers; which managed just the tiniest bit to ease the tension because they had green smiley faces on them. It was random and childish, but it was pretty much Harry's style she surmised.

Well, it was time she got to the hard part… Her suit retracted to some casual clothes without her needing to think; because Fin was nice enough since it knew she had more pressing matters on her mind.

She leaned down to examine the damage to his chest; peeling off the bandages that were unfortunately stained with blood. Rose's eyes widened as she saw that her fears had been confirmed. He had apparently sustained more internal damage; though mostly the impact of Shocker's attack had simple re-opened his old wounds and his stitches were torn as well! Rose phased off his mask so that she could see his face. He didn't look so good. His expression tired, pale, and tense from what he was going through.

"Harry, I'm sorry, but I need to heal you… this is going to _hurt_ very badly." Rose told him as she ran a hand in a soothing gesture through his hair. He gave a weak groan in response and that was as good as any; he must be in more pain than the anesthetic could relieve. Well, that was as much as she could give him at the moment, and there wasn't time to go get anything from his bedroom.

Rose placed one hand on his shoulder to hold him as still as possible, and the other over his chest as she moved over him to straddle his waist to better hold him down. Harry arched his back as a sharp pain radiated where her hand touched his chest and shot throughout his body!

The young man tried to keep from screaming and jerking violently, but he was already tired and it _really_ hurt! It took about ten minutes or so of her trying to comfort him with her words so as to quell his screams and whimpers, while she healed him; before she took her bloodied hand away to check her work.

"Well… you don't have to worry about your chest anymore…" Harry panted; opening his eyes to peer up at her, only to be shocked to see that the physician looked completely beat!

"R-Rose…?" His voice was horse from all the yelling; which had to be muffled with a tentacle like Infinita had done back at the party, but it had been removed once she was finished, just as before.

"I'll be okay… Heh, I just need to refuel is all…" Rose reassured him. She rolled off of him and flopped down beside him on the bed with a sigh of exhaustion.

"What a day…"

"I'm sorry we-" His gave a grunt as he was unable to say anything further, so she shushed him and tiredly put her hand on his; patting it sweetly.

"Shhhh… rest. We'll talk later. Give me a minute and I'll get you some water." He grasped her hand and gave it a grateful squeeze. She smiled a little.

"You're welcome." For a few minutes they just laid there; both hurting terribly and just as worn out. And, as promised, once Rose had just enough energy to walk into the kitchen, she grabbed a bowl of apples and fetched a tall glass of water for them to share; then the doctor made her way back and sat down on the bed.

Placing the bowl on her lap, she turned to help Harry slowly sit up and get a nice cool drink of water. He took a few refreshing gulps and leaned back against the headboard of the bed to exhale softly; glad to finally have the taste of blood rinsed away.

"Thanks!" Harry breathed; his throat still a little sore but he could finally talk again. And for that matter, now that his chest was healed, he wasn't coughing up blood. He turned his head to look at her perplexedly.

"How… did you do that?" Rose swallowed the bit of apple she had been chewing absentmindedly.

"That depends… do what exactly? Save you back at the party? I teleported and used my body to cushion the impact so you wouldn't have been injured worse or died. How did I take care of the guys and robots trying to steal your company's thingamajig? Well… that part has a lot of stuff happening, so I won't get into that right now. BUT, if you mean the saving you just now… I healed you with the powers I possess that allow me to do so. Simple as that." Rose explained tiredly before taking another crunchy bite. Harry processed this as best he could. It was quite a lot to take in because a LOT had been happening lately.

"Okay… but _how_ are you able to do all of that?" He asked uncertainly.

"Have you ever heard of one of those people who sometimes look all ordinary but have special powers of some kind, and people who aren't like that usually call them mutants?" Harry nodded with a frown as he assumed where this was going.

"That's how." She said matter of factly.

"So… you're a mutant?" Rose nodded and started on another apple.

"And… you have more than one power?"

"Yeah. My main power is Absorption. That's how I collected them. Kind of like how people collect stamps or baseball cards… except what I do is actually useful." For some reason, she had thought this whole conversation would have been a lot weirder… but it felt kind of relaxed… well kind of. There was SOME tension, but it was mostly because Harry was trying to understand and she anxiously hoped he would.

"What about that suit of yours?" He gave her a look like he half expected the suit to come alive and defend itself. Which it probably could have through actions, but it decided to let her handle this. It was tired anyway and the symbiote had other things on it's mind that needed sorting out.

"The symbiote and I are doing pretty well. It hasn't really decided yet whether or not to bond with me, but that's fine. I'm not one to pressure like that. We settled on the nickname Fin since my alter-ego is Infinita."

"Cute…" Harry teased halfheartedly as he yawned.

"Yeah, I think so too. Turns out Fin was just polluted by the negative feelings and memories of both Eddie and Peter; or Spider-Man, as you may know him. It just needed someone positive like me to help it sort things out." At this Harry raised an inquisitive brow, as what she'd just said seemed to dawn on him ever so slowly.

"So wait… you've known who Spider-Man was this whole time?" One… two…

"Yeah. I've known a lot of stuff for a while now… like how you were the new Goblin on the block." Harry's eyes widened. THREE!

"YOU KNEW?!" An-nnnnd there it is! Rose flinched as he had just accidentally yelled quite close to her ear.

"Ow! Geez! Not so loud, ok?" The young man flushed and looked apologetic.

"Sorry… it's just… so you know, and you _still_ like me?" He was all around dumbfounded.

"Yeah. I knew who you were when I operated on you. Seeing as you were my patient, my feelings were rather neutral, but even then I couldn't help liking you to some degree. It just grew the more time we spent together. And here we are… sitting in my apartment talking about it… Anti-hero to… uhm… I'm not sure what you've decided to be yet, so I'll hold off on that… But yeah."

They sat there quietly as each muddled over everything that had happened that night. The silence was broken when Rose got bored and started making slurping sounds with the water just because. Harry chuckled and she joined in. Then he looked at her with a rather apologetic expression.

"Hey… I'm really sorry about tonight. I know it was supposed to be our first date and all." Rose gave a shrug.

"Never set much stock in fretting over what can't be changed. Besides, with our first date having gone so badly, whatever we do for the second one's bound to be an improvement!" She laughed softly and he shook his head good humouredly.

"Should've known you'd turn it around somehow."

"Well I AM just that good."

"Never said you weren't."

"So… how do you like my place? Nothing fancy like yours, but it's here." Harry took a moment to scan the small bedroom and found it to be nice for an apartment; it was definitely an improvement over Peter's… then again a rat hole in the wall was probably better than that dump…

"I think I like it better than mine…" The lass tilted her head slightly to the side.

"How so?" He shrugged and frowned a little.

"A lot of bad memories in the other one. Here… I have you… so I prefer it to the latter." She leaned over and kissed his forehead.

"You know the saying… Home is where the heart is." He blushed and nodded.

"So… where's your home, Rose?" The black haired woman leaned so that her head was resting on his shoulder.

"Riiiiight about… here! You, me and the symbiote makes three." She told him just as she touched him. Harry grinned and rested his head on top of hers.

"So does that make us roommates?" He asked with levity.

"If it does, you owe me a ton of rent." Her tone conveyed the same cheery playfulness.

"Do I now?"

"Yes, you do. And how do you intend to pay me, hmm?"

"What did you have in mind?"

"Hmm. I think pizza, a movie, and some dancing should suffice." Harry nuzzled her hair; inhaling the scent and sighing fondly.

"Sounds good. Where do you want to do all that?"

"Well… I was thinking your place. You have the spooky wall TV, I can order Pizza, and there's plenty of room to dance." Harry shouldn't have been surprised by that, but he was. He would have figured she wanted to go to actual places.

"You're weird…" Rose smirked as she teleported the bowl to the kitchen; not feeling very much like moving from her comfy spot. She turned over to wrap her arms around Harry and he mimicked her gesture.

"Yeah… Love you too, Harry." Rose said tiredly just as she passed out; leaving Harry staring at her in astonishment! Had she just said that… she "loved" him? He was positively boggled. Harry kept trying to tell himself Rose had just been playing and that he shouldn't think anything of it.

But, a part of him found that disheartening because he found that he liked the idea that that's how she felt about him… Harry felt rather lost in a sea of complicated feelings that he only seemed to make worse for himself. And he was very thankful when he finally fell asleep; as troubled as it may have been, for that meant that at least for now he would not have to think about it whilst he slept.

However, while the two slumbered, a certain symbiote had been listening quietly and wondering. It had been able to feel and know for quite some time that it's host had grown very fond of the Harry human, and that she spoke truly… but what did this mean for the symbiote?

Would she want to be rid of it now that she had someone with whom to give all her affection to? Or would she keep it? And even if Rose did, did the alien want to share the woman with this spoiled and greedy little goblin?

Sure… it knew very well that the other must like it's host and almost seemed as fond of her as Fin did, but how was this going to work? The very thought of Harry trying to keep Rose all to himself caused the black substance to seethe so badly that it's stirring changed her pajamas to it's usual liquid form for a few moments, and it forced itself to calm down, lest it wake her…

The symbiote would have sighed had it a mouth of it's own… _It_ wanted to be the one to comfort her when she awoke from a bad dream or she felt upset… to be there for her always and the only one allowed to touch her, and to- oh dear…! The sentient creature's pensive thoughts paused as it began to realize that perhaps these feelings that it felt for her were of the kind of love she had for the brat beside her?

They felt a lot like what it used to feel for Spider-Man… but it was… _different_ with Rose… the feelings were happier and yet, now that it thought her heart belonged to another and might never be Fin's… the symbiote found them to be confusing and saddening as well.

After a while of listening to the sound of Rose's breathing and felt the rhythmic rising and falling of her chest, Fin fell into deep thought as to what it should do to keep _it's dearest doctor_ close… sliding a tentacle down to pull up the covers over her and then ever so lightly caressing her cheek with it; finding it bittersweet as she leaned into the touch with a soft little sigh, and wishing it had a body of it's own to touch and hold her as it so longed to do… one of the few things it _envied_ of the Osborn boy.

' _We will keep_ _ **our**_ _pretty little flower… whatever it takes-sss…!'_


	32. Anything Loved Can Be Lost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which we see just how delicate a flower Rose really is under all that awesomeness...

When morning came, Rose couldn't help feeling a little different somehow; but still being a little tired from last night and having a lot on her mind, she couldn't quite pinpoint what it was… However, things weren't going to slow down and today was going to be a busy day, since the two had to part ways for a while.

Harry would need to go and sort out last nights fiasco and ensure that the device was all right; as well as a few other issues that would need tending to. Rose understood and said that if he was returning to work that she may as well do the same.

Harry was quite reluctant about this and asked if maybe she could just stay on as his permanent physician; but she explained her feelings on the matter on how her job was important to her when it came to cases like Penny's or his; where she was needed for her "talents", and he begrudgingly did his best to understand. Well, at least they got to have breakfast together as they conversed about such subjects. So that was quite nice.

It wasn't until she had taken a shower, before she was supposed to take Harry home; so that he could get cleaned and changed as well, that Rose noticed something that she almost wished she hadn't…! A bizarre and icily numbing feeling befell the young woman as she stared down at her naked body; trying to figure out what was going on.

So, it was quite the shock when Harry turned suddenly at the sound of a door banging open and seeing Rose come hurrying into the room, wearing only a towel wrapped around her and a panicked look on her face that he'd never seen before! Now, if it hadn't been for the fact that Rose was so obviously distressed as she began to practically tear her apartment apart; trying desperately to find something, he may have gone all googly eyed at seeing her in just a towel.

As this was not the case, though he did blush a little, he was more worried about what was going on and went right up to the young woman; gently yet firmly grasping her forearms in his hands and making her look at him.

"Rose…? Rose! What's wrong?" Harry asked, trying to be calm and consoling, but it was hard when he wasn't sure what to do or how to help… he wasn't really used to being the one doing the comforting… all he knew was that he needed to do something. But, he was not however, ready for what happened next…

"Gone…" Rose muttered sorrowfully, as she found that she could only stare blankly down at the floor; her stormy grey eyes glistening with tears yet unshed… She looked paler than usual and Harry felt like someone had just reached into his chest and twisted his heart painfully, at the strangely heartbroken tone of her voice!

"What's gone?" He asked in a hushed tone, reaching up a hand to caress her cheek as a stray tear trickled down it, but she didn't respond. It was like she didn't notice anything right now.

"Fin… Fin's gone…" Was the whispered reply. Harry frowned, and even more so when Rose pulled away and sat numbly in a corner of the room; pulling her knees up to her chest and tucking her head down like a small child would when trying to hide from something or someone very horrible.

Harry followed her over to her spot and after a moments hesitation, he wrapped his arms around her. She didn't flinch, didn't lean into his touch, the ravenette just sat there lost in her own thoughts as silent tears ran down her face.

Rose couldn't believe it… after all that time together; and yes it may not have been THAT long, but even so… what they had shared in such a span, the physician had thought that perhaps it had meant something to the symbiote, if only just enough for it to have said goodbye, rather than take off without a word!

Fin had abandoned her… just up and gone while she had been taking a shower! To where or even why the symbiote had left was a complete mystery to her! Rose had noticed that the little alien was rather quiet that morning, and had taken notice that it was odd a while after waking up.

She'd merely assumed that it was also busy thinking over everything that had been happening lately. As soon as she had noticed that no clothes appeared on her body when she had dried off, Rose tried to ask the symbiote if it was okay only to receive no answer what so ever!

It was then that the unfortunately familiar sense of abandonment crept over her and the young woman panicked; attempting to find the black substance and hoping that it was merely playing some weird trick that they could laugh about later or something like that… but, this was not the case. Hell, she barely recognized it when Harry touched her and was trying to ask her what was wrong!

And all the little mutant could do was voice the words that, though she knew to be true, she would've given anything if they weren't… that Fin was gone and they'd probably never seen each other again. That she'd been duped into caring for yet another person, or sentient being rather, who just ended up leaving her. She… felt like a complete idiot…

For a few minutes, though it felt like forever to Rose, she continued to sit there with Harry kindly holding her and wishing that she would snap out of it. Then, with a heavy sigh and heart, the doctor apologized to Harry for her behavior; to which she was a little glad that he said he could understand, and then after she dried her eyes and got dressed the regular way; which only served to depress her as it reminded her that Fin had left, did she take Harry back home before politely dismissing herself and heading off to the hospital. She hoped to try and clear her head and bury herself in work.

Of course, one of the first things that Rose did was to confide in Tabitha about what had happened. And was grateful when her friend listened and even offered her a hug, before telling her that "life happens" and that no one could know everything. That the situation with the symbiote could have gone either way and it wasn't something that could have been predicted or controlled.

This did help to comfort Rose somewhat, and though she knew this when she first made that deal with the alien goo, it still hurt. The young lass supposed she had made the mistake of being too trusting again, but it was just so easy with Fin… and the woman knew that it might seem strange, but she really did love the symbiote…

It wasn't just some suit to augment her, Fin was her friend… her partner and a very dear one at that. In fact, her affection for the black goop was only rivaled by how she felt for Harry. And the only reason that she hadn't said anything to the sentient symbiont was because she was afraid it might think ill of her and not want to be her partner anymore… oh no… was that why it had left her?!

Had it found out her true feelings?! Was it so disgusted with her that it couldn't stand to even be on her for another day or even want to talk to her? Rose heaved a sigh and took a moment to find a secluded place to slowly bang her head against the wall.

That had to be the reason it left her. She couldn't think of any other, but then again depression made it difficult to really think clearly to begin with. The Anti-Hero had thought she'd hidden her true emotions and thoughts to herself, but she surmised that at some point… somehow, it had found out and decided to find a new host who wasn't so bizarre or something to that affect.

On her break, Rose went to take a seat in the staff lounge; taking a seat on the end of the couch opposite of Tabitha, who was busy replying to texts that kept making her phone vibrate, and the older woman knew that it just had to be Gwen sending them; this was made positive when she heard the boffin muttering something in slight exasperation about a "damn, clingy blonde". The ravenette managed a small, albeit sad smile, before turning to stare up blankly at the television for a while, still very gloomily pensive; until her eyes caught sight of something that snapped her out of her muddling.

It was some news segment about Spider-Man, and while Rose would have normally ignored this, it was what this particular piece was about that made her pay attention. Apparently, police had arrived at the scene at last nights OsCorp bash, just in time to see Spider-Man making a getaway in a helicopter with some masked thugs AND the mysterious OsCorp prototype!

Rose and Tabitha shared a look and then glanced around the room; seeing that the only other person there was some guy who was taking a nap, they decided to head off to discuss matters in Tabitha's lab just as a precaution. And, after they conversed about the whole "Spider-Theif" situation and how that had to be wrong, the two continued this topic during their lunch break and at a later break before Rose went home; since she needed the night to herself and kindly called Harry in advanced to let him know.

A lot of strangeness was occurring… and the more Rose thought about it, the more her questions outweighed the answers. It didn't make any sense… why would Spider-Man; the uptight do-gooder and ham of New York City, want to steal from OsCorp? Or from Harry for that matter?

Her thoughts turned to Norman, but that didn't make sense either… then, Rose remembered something from the fight, before she left to go heal Harry. There had been one last culprit that she and the symbiote (she thought despairingly) had yet to capture, but that was because whoever it was had arrived just after Spider-Man had. Almost as if it… huh, maybe it wasn't "almost" so much as "exactly"!

Yeah, it would make sense if that was the case…! But before she could go throwing out wild theories or anything like that, she needed some evidence. Why did she even care, one may wonder? Well, the Shocker and his fellow fools made the mistake of messing with Harry.

Pure and simple…! And while the disappearance of the symbiote had her worrying that Harry might up and pull a vanishing act of his own, she decided that such thoughts weren't very productive and chose to try and keep her faith in him that he wouldn't. After all… the only way to develop trust with someone was simply to give them some and see what they did with it…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the sadness, but at least now ya'll can kind of see that despite how awesome and powerful Rose may be, she has her own weaknesses and vulnerabilities that are far from kryptonite related.
> 
> Poor Rose... she has serious abandonment issues; what with her mother having abused and tried to murder her multiple times and then dumped her off in a dumpster to rot for all she cared, and then all that junk with the "Phantom Renegade" group... it's no wonder it hit her so hard. It's bad enough she already has a bit of issues where she thinks Harry and/or the symbiote might find her to be worthless or disgusting, no matter how awesome she actually is. Ah well! Hopefully Harry will stick with her and happiness shall be had by them both! Buuuuuuuuuuuut yah won't know that until the next chapter! XD


	33. The Heart is Always First to Know

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which both Harry and Rose have their issues, but learn to deal with them and get to know each other better! YAY!

Due to Harry's absence from work, he had quite a lot to attend to once he returned; especially, what with how OsCorp's party was crashed by the Shocker and his gang. And ironically, even more shockingly that the media and the cops believed that Spider-Man had a hand in it too!

It would seem the quilted moron had been the only one unaccounted for besides the web-head and the few crooks who helped them; at least that's what Rose and Harry had noticed when they read the paper the next day, and after discussing the situation with Rose, he'd even did a little more investigating at work, as Rose checked for anyone admitted to the hospitals with the injuries Shocker might have sustained that she'd inflicted upon him. Harry even went so far as to call Peter and ask him about the whole episode. But, Peter simply told him that it wasn't him and that he had no idea who could be behind such craziness. Though Harry did end up hanging up on the angst ridden moron when he suggested that maybe Infinita might have something to do with it; but only after telling him he was an idiot.

So, between that and Rose having to get back into her own routine, the two of them ended up pretty busy for a few days; which caused them to be unable to spend every night together, along with the good doctor seeming to be still upset with the symbiote, much to Harry's vexation. Rose wasn't as distraught about the lack of having him around as he was, but then again the young Osborn _was_ a lot clingier than the dark haired physician, so it was to be expected.

Rose did miss being around him as much, but she understood that it would've happened eventually; so she did her best to see him as much as she could and answer all the texts he sent her and so forth, while trying to get over the loss of the symbiote. Harry really was quite adorable, and the young woman did her best to help him adjust, even if she had her own adjusting to do. And though Harry understood this, it only seemed to make him want to be closer to her.

Though… she had to admit, he HAD been behaving a little strangely since the morning after the party. Rose wondered if perhaps it was due to the stress of running his business or finding out that she was a mutant… The young lass worried that he might not like the idea of dating or even being or having been involved with "her kind"; as she'd heard it put before. Rose really hoped that wasn't the case…

But, as much as she would have liked to think he still liked her, what with the way he'd wanted her to be close and all; Harry always seemed to end up distant and troubled at some point. After the first one or two nights of becoming uncomfortable due to the tension, and how Harry always changed the subject when she tried to ask what was wrong, Rose decided to sleep by herself in her own apartment; no matter how much Harry had protested the idea. Rose explained that she thought he needed time to himself to sort out whatever was bothering him.

This separation of sorts did nothing to help him however, as he found himself forlorn over the loss of his bedmate. The reason Harry was so troubled however, was for a few reasons. He had been trying to sort out his own feelings since Rose had mentioned the word "love"; whether jokingly or seriously, it had made him begin to wonder just how he felt about the fine, young physician.

The young man knew that he cared very much for Rose, more than he ever had for any woman he'd ever known; as he knew he loved his deceased mother and kindly excluded her. And ever since the morning he'd seen her so distraught over the loss of the symbiont, he'd felt even more strongly about the woman, but also a little like he wasn't quite himself… and he wasn't sure why.

Not to mention how Harry found it increasingly difficult if not almost impossible to go very long without coming into some form of contact with Rose; even if it was just sending her a text to see how she was doing. And yes, he knew that these were signs that one was indeed infatuated with another and could be considered love. There was just this feeling of doubt that gnawed at his brain, it said all sorts of things that made him second guess himself, (then again his mind always seemed to torment him like this), that followed as such.

' _Does she really love me for me, or is it just a ploy to get my money?'_ Well, that was definitely the most prominent and bothersome; as he had every right to be paranoid about this since MJ had done this very thing to him. Thankfully his dad had pointed it out, so when it did happen, he wasn't so confused about it. And he couldn't help the surreal sensation, like a voice in the back of his mind; that felt more like a phantom whispering, that told him this was not the case with Rose.

' _How can I love someone I haven't even known all that long?'_ This one confused him as well. He'd heard of "Love at first sight", but had never been one to take stock in something that sounded so corny. EVEN if he felt that he had indeed quite liked Rose upon having first laid eyes upon her… so… perhaps it was more "Extreme like at first sight"? Hmm, that sounded even cornier he decided.

There were a few other minor questions, each met with that ghostly little voice that was more like a feeling than a voice, trying to ease his fears and doubts, and drowning out the cruel and mocking voice that was usually crushing his hopes; but he was starting to give himself a headache with all of this incessant pensiveness.

And the thought of a voice in his head reminded him of his episodes he'd suffer when ever his hallucinations about his father popped up to torment him, which had not happened since he'd almost been killed by his own glider. Though he did hear the voice sometimes like when he thought about those earlier questions… so perhaps this new and nice one, whose words couldn't be heard but rather felt (which was strange in itself), might be an improvement of some kind?

Harry sighed and shook his head, as he sat in his office; doing his best to focus on his paperwork. Finding that he couldn't, he gave a quiet, aggravated growl as he leaned forward to rest his still scarred face in his hands.

The young CEO nearly had a heart attack when he felt a tender touch to his shoulder, and whirled around in his chair to see the deeply worried face of Rose standing beside him; her hand retracted when he had spun around so quickly.

"W-what are you doing here?" Harry inwardly cringed at how a look of hurt and surprise flashed across her features, before she frowned worriedly again and she put her hands in her lab coat pockets. He hadn't meant for his tone to come out so sharply.

"You invited me for lunch… but if you're too busy I can go." His stomach twisted at her cool tone.

"Rose, I didn't mean it like that. It's just really startling when you sneak up on me like that." He tried to explain as he turned back to face his desk and rest his face in his hands again; feeling that headache coming on.

"I tried to get your attention, but when you didn't seem to hear me I tried touching your shoulder." The young woman stepped around his desk so that it was now between them; that way they could better see one another.

"Oh… sorry." He said rather lamely. She just gave a halfhearted shrug.

"Its ok… I know you're troubled about something and that you don't want to talk about it." Harry stared at her from between his fingers.

"You… do?"

"Yeah. It doesn't look like you're any closer to figuring it out either… you look worse every day. Harry, I know I'm probably the last person you want to talk about it with, but is there any way I can help?" Rose gazed at him; her tone and expression radiating sincerity and concern. Wow… that really made Harry feel like a real ass now! And here he thought he'd been doing a good job of hiding it so that he WOULDN'T worry her. Then a thought occurred to him…

"Wait a minute… How do you know that I look worse every day when we don't see each other that often?" He asked curiously, only to see Rose blush and smirk with mischievous knowing.

"Just because you don't see _me,_ doesn't mean I don't see _you_." The young man leaned forward on his elbows.

"And prey tell _why_ are you keeping an eye on me?" Rose gave him a look as if he should have known this, which made him feel like he probably should have.

"I care about you Harry. The way you've been acting, out of your already interesting behavior, has been downright worrisome for me. I haven't even been able to sleep!" Her voice rose a little as she folded her arms over her chest; wondering why it seemed so improbable for her to like him, but remembering that it was a hard concept for Harry to really grasp or trust.

Harry meanwhile, was taking this moment to actually examine the young woman, and the truth of her words was pretty evident then. She really did look like she hadn't had a wink of sleep; those fair features of hers looking quite fatigued and riddled with anxiety from his troubling behavior. Though her nightmares had popped up here and there to cause her further vexation since Fin wasn't there to block them out.

"I didn't mean to worry you Rose…" Harry felt a tightening in his chest and he was starting to wonder if his torso had been wounded all over again. She sighed and shook her head.

"Harry, you should really learn that when someone cares about you that it's only natural they behave in such a manner when you aren't feeling well; for whatever reason or reasons that may be. I just want you to know that I'm here if you need me." The young man nodded slowly and stood to walk around the desk and over to her; standing with about a decent three feet between them.

"I understand… it's just that so much has happened and has been happening pretty fast. Kinda hard for me to really grasp it all, y'know?" He rubbed the back of his head and exhaled softly.

"Well, what is it you are having trouble "grasping"? If I can't help, it might just do some good to talk it out with someone." Harry hadn't thought of that, seeing as he hadn't ever had anyone with which to do that… He took a deep, calming breath and considered her words. Maybe he could phrase his thoughts in a way that wouldn't upset her or scare the doctor away?

"Okay… I'll try…" Rose nodded and waited patiently for him to sort out what he wanted to say. And he wondered just how one person could have so much tolerance for someone as obviously messed up as himself.

"The night when our date was crashed and you took me back to your place, what you said got me thinki-" Rose looked confused.

"Wait, what was it that I said?" Harry bit his lip; he'd been hoping he wouldn't have to say anything about that. Well, so much for that plan!

"Oh… um… well… I said that "You're weird" and you said tha-" Realization hit Rose and she interrupted him again.

"And I said that I love you. Right?" Harry looked stunned.

"You… remember?!" She rolled her eyes.

"Of course I remember! And I meant what I said too. Hold up! Is this what you've been all distraught over?" Her eyes narrowed suspiciously as Harry looked like he'd been hit with a ton of bricks. It was clear at this moment that Harry hadn't heard a word outside of her confession.

"Harry?" He looked at her in a dazed sort of way.

"When did you…?" He couldn't seem to form the right words to end that question.

"When did I know that I loved you?" She offered with cautious kindness. He nodded slowly. It was a tad blush inducing and all, and it made her feel that nervous mixture one does when explaining their feelings.

"When I saw you get hit by that Shocker twit… My mind didn't register it as quickly as my heart did, but I figured it out once I knew how badly you'd been injured… and then when I told you what I am and you didn't freak out or what usually happens when someone finds that out, I couldn't help how relieved and happy I felt! So, when I was all sleepy and I wasn't thinking about anything except focusing on all those good emotions and thoughts, I sort of accidentally confessed…" Rose looked down at her feet and sighed somberly.

"But… I guess it was naive to think you'd feel the same way for _something_ like me if it has bothered you this much…" The young woman felt her eyes glistening with tears she simply refused to shed; at least while in front of Harry. Showing such a vulnerability as tears in circumstances as this had only ever made things worse for her in the past. It was even made all the worse by the fact that her worst fears had come true, and that Harry didn't want to have anything to do with her either… just like the symbiote, the Phantom Renegades, or even her own mother…

Harry stood speechless; wanting so desperately to say something to console her and feeling so horrible for having made her think she was anything less than amazing! Before he knew what he was doing; for he really didn't care so long as it made her feel better, he swiftly closed the distance between them and pulled her into a tender embrace!

For about a second he thought he'd made the wrong move when he felt her tense, but felt a wave of relief when she relaxed and just let him hold her. She had only been surprised out of her thoughts and by the gesture.

"Rose… I would never think any less of you for being who you are! You know I have trouble thinking anyone could love me! I'm damaged on the inside AND the outside, I'm unstable as hell, and I am wa-aaay too paranoid about someone trying to use me for material reasons! But, I care about you and I'm really trying." He reached up and ran a hand through her silky hair.

"Yeah… you have worst trust issues than my friend Tabitha…" Rose quietly said; a hint of ironic humor in her voice. The misty eyed lass eased away just far enough to look up into a concerned sea of emerald.

"But I still love you despite all of that and in some ways, even because of that!… And you know Harry… I _think_ I can prove to you that I don't need nor want your wealth…" Rose told him, as an idea came to her mind. He quirked a brow as she pulled away and turned to his desk to look for something.

When she grabbed a small, and ornate looking obsidian colored paperweight from off of the small stack of completed papers he'd had it on, and held it in the palm of her hand. Harry frowned in bewilderment.

"With _that_?!" He sounded very doubtful.

"Exactly! Now, you know its basically just a rock, right?" She asked as she gestured to the paperweight. It was about the size of an orange and in the shape of what she thought looked much like a gumdrop.

"Yeah…?"

"Good! Now, watch me work my magic! Not actual magic mind you, just a figure of speech…" The lad rolled his eyes; crossing his arms.

"Just do it." Rose stuck her tongue out and he smirked a little; though he felt rather nervous for some reason. The young woman kept her hand open so that he could watch as she stared fixatedly on the rock in her hand.

Harry's eyes widened in astonishment as it changed from obsidian to gold! When it had completely changed from rock to a hunk of gold, she handed it to him and he could feel just how much heavier the object was now.

"So… you turned this to gold?" He couldn't help sounding a little disbelieving. Rose laughed, and he was glad for this whole distraction.

"Have it tested if you don't believe me. I'm not as good as my friend is at doing stuff like that, but one can't be awesome at everything. I can't believe I didn't think of this before, but like you said, a lot has been happening!" She gave a shrug as she watched him frown at the rock.

"If you can do this, then how come you live so poorly and you continue to work?" Harry hadn't meant it to sound or be insulting, but he watched as she scowled at him and was very taken aback when she gave him a smack upside the back of his head. It wasn't very hard, but it was the act that shocked him.

"It's called being discreet! _Some_ of us like living simply. Sheesh! Even Tabitha lives in an apartment! And she doesn't even have a TV! And as for the work thing, I rather like being able to know I've helped someone; even if I have to wade through all the annoying jerks to do it. Besides, if it wasn't for my caring nature and the fact that it keeps me busy and out of trouble, I would never have met you." Rose told him, sounding a little perturbed by having to explain what she thought was obvious.

"Huh… okay, I admit, I didn't really think that through before asking. My bad!" Harry couldn't help smiling at how cute and pouty she looked when she was all flustered like that and he ended up laughing. Seeing that talking had actually helped and had made him laugh, made Rose feel a lot better about everything.

"Glad that's finally settled. So, you better not think I'm a gold digger anymore, because I can SO totally make my own! No digging required either!" Rose stuck her tongue out at him again and that caused him to laugh harder.

"Okay, okay! You win!" She gave a stern nod as if to say "Damn right I do!" which she had also thought too for good measure.

"Well now Harry, you now know how I feel. How about you? Is that another thing you've been fretting over?" His laughter died down as he glanced at her.

"Not every day I hear that you know… so yes, I have been trying to sort out how I feel about it all." Rose could understand. She'd had to do the same. Though, she didn't think she'd been as dramatic about it as he had.

"And have you come to a conclusion?" The young woman asked; her voice trying to remain calm, but her heart felt like it was caught in her throat. Harry smiled softly and pulled her so that she was standing in front of him again.

"Heh, if it isn't love that I feel then something has to _seriously_ be wrong with me! I've never been as fond of anyone as I have of you. So… as sickeningly sweet as it may sound, I love you Rose." Harry told her sincerely.

"I love you too Harry." Rose smiled blushingly; leaning in and further expressing her words with a loving kiss. Their arms wrapped themselves around one another as they enjoyed taking in such a wonderful moment!

After that was settled, the two crazy lovebirds were able to finally get to lunch and were back to sharing a bed after that! Though, they still kept things pretty chaste so that they could get to know each other as people first. And only taking turns spending the night at each others places when they knew the other would be there and not at work when they could, since they were still busy adults.

When they weren't having lunch together, sleeping in the same bed, or conversing when they could via cell phone, Harry and Rose learned quite a lot about the other. She learned he liked making technological devices like Tabitha, and was more than happy to help him to repair his busted gliders in the hidden lab he had.

The fine physician may not be as genius as Tabitha, but Harry thought she was pretty good and that her powers were especially handy. She'd even managed to get him a few interesting parts to help improve some of his gear.

Apparently, the "Boffin" as Rose referred to her as, didn't need them and wasn't fond of keeping around anything she deemed useless. Which was good, considering Harry had been able to use some of them to make improvements.

And although that nice and helpful little voice was beginning to grow steadily stronger, the youth was too preoccupied to notice. Because Harry was just happy that he was no longer plagued by the doubts and fears, etc. that he'd had before, and they were doing much better as a couple because of it.

He was beginning to learn that he really cherished having someone with whom he could open up to and discuss about whatever bothered or interested him. Even if he kept the whole voice thing to himself; not really thinking he wanted to get into the whole "I sometimes hear the psychotic voice of my dead dad in my head and now I have a new one that I can't so much hear as feel" thing.

Oh and there was the whole trying to figure out why someone wanted to steal the prototype OsCorp was about to present. Both Harry and Rose were doubtful that someone as idiotic as Spider-Man was behind it; whether Peter had said he wasn't or otherwise. It just didn't make sense.

But, that only raised the question of, out of all the criminals and corrupt citizens of the city, who would want to go to all the trouble of stealing an item that even Harry himself didn't think was worth stealing? Harry didn't seem to care too much since they had other products they could sell and such that were much better, and if someone was framing Spider-Man, then that was really Peter's problem and Harry said he didn't want to intervene unless he was asked too. But mostly because he was secretly angry at Peter for not showing up in time to help at the party and for so many other reasons.

And unless it was to help her boyfriend, Rose preferred to stay out of it and figured the "hero" would solve the whole thing anyway, since Harry had faith in the web-head that he would. She made no comment on that though and merely shrugged.

Besides, when Rose did attempt to see if she could find the Shocker and his crew in her spare time, it had proved to be just one dead end after the other. If they did need to try and find out who it was, they'd have to wait until they tried to bother Harry and/or OsCorp again. Otherwise it wouldn't do any good.

So all in all, besides the voices crap and the other stuff involving the theft, though they may not have had as much time as Harry may have liked to be around one another, he was very happy when they did. And they both were glad that they finally had someone upon whom they could rely!


	34. Struggles Harden the Hold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Harry gets more than he bargained for... and boy did he bargain!

Things didn't stay as hectic for too long thankfully enough, and they had been getting along considerably better as time passed. When they had an evening where they'd be able to spend some real quality time together, they agreed to meet up at Harry's place if all their affairs for that day went accordingly.

Harry had arrived at his penthouse (or whatever it is) a few hours before Rose was to show up and start their date, and that gave him plenty of time to get everything ready! He had Bernard make sure everything was clean and then gave the butler the night off; the elder man congratulating him upon hearing that Rose was coming over for a date, before he left.

Lately the young CEO had been feeling a lot more vivacious than usual. When he had the brief time during his day to get some exercise in, he noticed that he had improved in a lot of ways; like his increased strength, speed, endurance, stamina, and heck he was even getting better sleep!

The youth figured that perhaps this was how it felt to be in a good relationship with someone who actually cared about you, and thus never thought to mention it in depth to Rose. And if he did say so himself, he thought he was looking to be in better shape as well! It was too bad Rose couldn't see him naked now!

At thinking that however, Harry ended up blushing and trying to get those kind of thoughts out of his head. They were supposed to be taking things slow and that line of imagination was not really one that he should be thinking about just before their date; even if his mind had been drifting there more often lately. Yeah… definitely not wise he concluded, and then went about setting up.

Once he was sure he had everything in place, Harry went to get cleaned up for Rose, as he wanted to be at his best. Once in the shower, as he scrubbed up, the dark haired lad couldn't help thinking about how Rose was still upset over that symbiote creature having ditched her.

For the life of him, he could not think of one reason why anyone or anything would want to give someone like the ravenette up! But still… where had it gone? If it had found another host, wouldn't someone have heard about it by now? Heck, even Rose hadn't had it long before he'd seen her on the news!

So what was the little ball of goop up to? Harry contemplated a few theories as he began to rinse off. And when he stepped out of the shower and began to dry off, he frowned when he had dried off his leg and felt that it was still very much wet. Or at least that was what he thought it was…

Upon looking down, did he see that his skin was slowly being covered by a pitch black liquid! It was such a shiny looking black, that it appeared to be fluid in texture! And as he watched on in stunned horror, did he realize just where the symbiont had been hiding this entire time!

The creature must have been hiding on his clothes and slyly breaking down his defenses to form longer and longer bonds with him, that were just enough so that it could retreat when it needed to! Huh… he suddenly had a split second ironic thought that perhaps he should have paid more attention when Peter had been telling him about his whole trauma with the alien during that one time they'd spoken about it.

As the inky blackness crept over his skin, every bit of him that it touched was met with a strange sensation! At first it was wet, like lukewarm water was trickling over him. But as it began bonding to him, it felt like oddly enjoyable little jolts of static electricity; as one would feel when they had it built up and were about to touch a person to shock them or when touching one of those weird glass orbs that caused your hair to stand on end!

Harry shivered and slowly backed up until he felt his back against the cool of the wall; frantically trying to rip and tear the pitch-like substance from off of his body as he went, but alas it was in vain! Most of it slipped and squirmed it's way easily through his fingers; like water through a sieve, and the slivers that he did manage to tear off, began to slither their way back onto him!

Frighteningly pleasant tingles rippled throughout his body, that made him bite his lip to suppress a throaty groan despite the seriousness of the situation; his back arching as he had to take a moment to brace himself against the wall. Harry could feel the creature's bond began to take hold and the unwanted realization that there was absolutely NOTHING he could do to stop this was getting harder and harder to ignore as he fought the symbiote for control!

But it would take a lot more than sheer will and brute force to get rid of the alien. In fact, the more he managed to remove, the quicker and more eagerly it spread! Until finally… when he went to cry out for someone, ANYONE to help him, the blackness wound it's way up to his mouth to silence him, and the next thing he knew… Harry Osborn was _engulfed in darkness_!

Harry awoke with a start in a cold sweat; bolting upright and looking down at himself in a panic! The young man heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that he was completely naked, but that brief moment soon passed as he realized how dark it was… and how he was no longer in his bathroom!

The young man scrambled to his feet and began looking around some more; hoping to find something discernable in the gloom, that appeared to make up the entire room! When he went to take a step forward, he found that his foot felt a little heavy, and upon further tugging, did he glance down, only for his eyes to widen in familial horror!

"Damn it! Not again!" He cried in exasperation; attempting vainly to fight off the black tentacle snaking up his leg and holding him in place, while it's twin bound his other for good measure. In his struggle, he ended up falling backwards. However, instead of hitting the ground, his body fell against something soft and fluid; like the alien bonds that tethered him.

"Now, now little Goblin… that's-ss no way to behave. We jus-ssst want an audience with you." Teased an eerie voice from somewhere a little too close for comfort. And as if to make sure he didn't try to struggle anymore, two more tendrils sprang up from the darkness beneath him to restrain his wrists.

"What do you want with me?!" Harry demanded; his anger beginning to drown out his fear. There was a little pause, then a figure emerged from the shadows. It looked a lot like the Venom version of the symbiote that he'd seen that Eddie Brock fellow with, except it was built similarly to Harry himself; but taller and much more menacingly muscular! It stopped about half a foot from him; hunching down so that they were eye to eye as the tentacles lifted him up like a marionette. Blank white stared unblinkingly into wide emerald.

"You have what we _want_ …" It stated with a hint of embitterment; the white narrowing for a second as it spoke. Harry quirked an eyebrow. Why were crazy people with tentacles always coming after him and demanding things?!

"And what might that be?" Was the lad's skeptical retort. White eyes glowered and it gave a low, warning growl. Then it held up a claw and waved it back and forth.

"Tssssk, tssssk, brat. Mus-ssst be nice or els-ssse you will be punis-ssshed." Harry stared at the creature and unconsciously gulped. Unlike Peter, Harry knew when he was in a dangerous situation and that one should try NOT to piss off the psychotic symbiote (or guy with mechanical tentacles, or really anyone else for that matter) when it had the upper hand, and was probably in control of his body this very second! The restrained former villain hoped it wasn't doing anything bad, and began to feel worried for Rose. Seeing Harry give a cautious nod of compliance, the symbiote grinned toothily; which did nothing to ease the dread he was experiencing.

"That's-sss better. It would appear that our Ros-sse has fallen for you… but _we want her_! And we _will_ have her!" It said, hissing angrily at the end. Harry frowned, seeing that the alien must obviously feel upset. And though he was not all too fond of the idea of handing over Rose to an insane alien, he couldn't help empathizing with the creature, as he too loved the doctor.

"What are you talking about? Rose has been a mess without you! I know she does a good job of trying to pretend she's fine so she won't worry me, but I see it plain as day…!" Harry confessed; sighing some and shaking his head. That old insecurity began gnawing at him, and he wondered if she liked the symbiote more than him.

The symbiote was stunned! Even though it had been on Harry for all this time, it had been so determined to gain a body of it's own, so as to love Rose the way it so desperately wanted to, that it hadn't thought that perhaps the pretty physician had cared about it more than it had previously assumed!

Sure, it had noticed that the mutant girl was distraught about something, but what with her relationship going so well with the Harry human, it figured it couldn't be related to itself. Obviously it had been very, _very_ wrong… Oh… why did humans have to be such complicated and confusing creatures?

First the males hosts fill it full of anger, hate and general embitterment, and then along comes that fascinating female to expose it to all the positive and much more pleasant emotions! And now that it knew what it was like to have someone care about it, the alien desired more, and from one _very_ specific person in particular!

"We… didn't mean to hurt her…" Fin tucked it's head, and it was obvious the other was indeed quite regretful. Harry couldn't help taking pity on the poor creature; despite how unstable it seemed… not like he was one to talk though. Okay… he could maaaaaaybe kind of see _why_ someone as nurturing and sweet, and so used to dealing with screwed up people (like himself) as Rose, could grow attached to the viscous goop, and _possibly_ miss it.

"Then why don't you just go back to her? I'm sure she'll welcome you with open arms." He offered, but this did not appease the symbiote. It gave a frustrated growl and grasped the sides of it's head as it turned away; shaking it and sinking it's claws into the blackness of it's own face as it spoke in a tone of frantic desperation.

"No, no, NO! We've come s-sssso far! We _need_ this-sss body, so Ros-sse will _love us-ssssss_!" Green eyes widened; hoping that the symbiote didn't plan on venting out that frustration on him physically as it did to it's own self. He could hear it begin muttering to itself and wondered if he was helping the situation or making it worse. But with his luck, he figured the latter.

"Mus-ssst have her…! _Need_ our pretty flower… but… what if s-ssshe s-ssstill does-sss not want us-sssssss?!" As it debated with itself, going from anger to despair in no time flat and continuing on in a manner of other tones that Harry didn't even know the alien could feel (but figured it must have either picked up or learned from it's other hosts), and watched as it began pacing around on all fours like a lion; it's overall behavior growing more and more psychotic! Harry knew from experience that that was NEVER a good thing for anyone. So, he decided to try and reason with the alien goo again.

"Hold on… let me get this straight… you bonded with me just to use my body?" He figured a question might be distracting for Fin and informative for him. He was indeed curious as to what the other was planning. The symbiote halted abruptly and then slowly turned to him with what must have been a considering fashion.

"Yes-sss…" It said quietly with a curious little hiss. Wondering what the human was getting at.

"But what about me? Am I just going to be stuck here while you live my life?" Harry asked; trying very hard to keep his tone calm, but he couldn't help feeling irritated and down right ticked at the idea of having just gotten his life (for the most part anyway) in order and here was someone or rather some THING trying to take it all away from him! The alien contemplated this.

Apparently it had not thought this far ahead, but it was difficult to think straight when the symbiont's only desire was to obtain Rose and make her it's mate! It had been doing it's best to fight it's own primal urges and the confusing emotions it had acquired from it's hosts, so as to slowly take Harry over in a way that Rose wouldn't notice… and even if or when she did, it had hoped she would love it by then and would accept Fin as she did Harry. But it had grown impatient and decided that _tonight_ was going to be the night it had it's mate!

"We s-sssupose we _could_ do that… we don't _really_ need you anymore." Oh crap! Harry didn't like where this was going!

"You can't do that! Rose will know! And once she finds out what you've done, do you seriously think she'll just be okay with it?!" Harry said; his voice rising as the panic began to rear it's ugly head again. The bound young man couldn't believe the alien would even consider that!

"Hmmm… the Goblin Boy has-sss a point." It said thoughtfully. The symbiote did not wish to do something bad, for it knew that Rose was a good person and she thought everyone should have a choice… after all, she HAD given the alien a choice to have her as a host and had been very patient with it… and it had only ended up hurting her like Peter and Eddie had done to the symbiote… Fin did not like this at all! No… it would not let her down anymore! It needed to make things right with it's mate… but how?!

"Damn right I do!" He agreed huffily; though the various little insulting nicknames the goo had for him did not go unnoticed, just ignored. He wondered if it had some sort of problem with him? Hmm… he surmised it had to do with the creature's obvious infatuation with Rose.

"But… but what can we do?! We _need_ her!" The symbiote said pitifully; it appeared to be on the edge of having another fit. Harry sighed and shook his head a little. And he thought HE had clingy issues when it came to Rose! He was pretty sure the alien had him beat.

"Listen… I have a suggestion that might help us both..." Harry replied calmly with a touch of exasperation. The symbiote seemed to perk up at his words and stared at him with intense interest; one white eye a little bigger than the other like it was quirking a slightly skeptical eyebrow. However, if Fin didn't have Rose here to explain these confusing troubles it had and advise it on what to do, then it would have to settle for what the spoiled brat had to say and hope it helped.

"We are lis-sstening…" And with that, Harry began explaining an idea, and possibly the only mutually benefiting solution he could come up with under the circumstances; the black mass listening quietly all the while. By the end of Harry's explanation, it was grinning widely at him; those wicked teeth gleaming like a mouth full of small blades! Making Harry wonder if he'd made the right choice…


	35. Your Lips Are Venomous Poison

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rose and Harry have their second date and we discover exactly what kind of deal he and the symbiote made! And other fun stuff happens too! XD

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I wrote this, I was listening to a variety of songs like: "Flesh" and "Super Psycho Love" by Simon Curtis, "Poison" by Groove Coverage, and "Shiver" by Maroon 5. Lmfao just thought that was fun to note if you wanted some music to listen to while you read this chapter. X3

When the designated time approached, Rose arrived at Harry’s door carrying a box of pizza and knocked. The young woman had that nervous kind of excitement; like there were butterflies fluttering around in her stomach.

Yeah, it was just their second date, but it was a LOT different since it was a real date this time… and they’d most likely be alone… and this was starting to make her rethink what she had chosen to wear for the occasion.

She had on a simple yet chic pale green sundress, with a hem that ended about an inch passed her knees, and matching green bar shoes; with the white dress socks that one usually wore with them. This time though, she wore no jewelry, and her hair was styled nicely as it had been the night before, since the lass enjoyed wearing it down.

And even though she did still miss the symbiote and was mending a broken heart over it, she decided that the only thing to do was just appreciate the fact that at least Harry returned her feelings and go on with life. Rose couldn’t blame the little alien… just it’s stupid previous owners.

The soft click of the door unlocking and opening pulled Rose from her thoughts. A small frown graced fair features, as the physician watched the door open all the way, but no one was there to greet her! In fact… the only light to be found, that came from inside, was a dim glow coming from Harry’s room. It was pretty dark inside the room as she cautiously entered; wondering if perhaps this was some kind of game Harry had planned on playing or if something was very wrong here.

Grey eyes scanned the room for anything out of the ordinary; the only thing that helped to make out where she was going were the little streams of light that seeped through the drawn curtains. A little chill ran down her spine as she felt the intense gaze of some unseen force!

She set the pizza down as quietly as she could on a nearby table that she passed, so that her hands would be free in case anything happened. And as the woman continued on, there didn’t seem to be anyone here. However, there was still that light pouring out of Harry’s room. Perhaps he had fallen asleep waiting for her?

Rose crept closer to the room, until finally… she gradually pushed the ajar door to his room open and peered inside! The first thing her eyes settled on was the bed, and she was taken aback to see that he was not there! But, _someone_ had left the bedside table light on. So, the secret Anti-Hero entered the room to further her investigation…

The quiet yet swift clicking of the door shutting behind her, made the woman spin around; now on full alert and ready to defend herself! However, Rose ended up blinking in surprise and frowning when she saw that it was just Harry. And that he had been hiding behind the damn door and was the one who shut it!

“Harry! That’s not funny! Do you have any idea how much yo- whoa… what happened to your hair?!” Rose ended up halting in her scolding when she saw him step further into the dim light of the room and saw how different both he and his hair appeared to be!

For starters, that blind eye of his now matched the other; the symbiote must have repaired it for him, but the scar remained. Though, it did look as if it were healing. His hair was now pitch black with a blue tint to it and it fell in an attractively untamed way like it did when he just stepped out of the shower and hadn’t styled it yet; the bangs casting shadows over those green orbs of his that almost seemed to give off a predatorial glow in the dim light!

And though she did like how Harry looked before, Rose had to admit that he looked _really_ good this way too!  He had on a black muscle shirt; which she noticed he filled out _very well_ , (had he gotten buffer…?) and black denim jeans that fit in _all_ the right places! Rose couldn’t help being fondly reminded of the symbiote as she stared at Harry in a sort of dreamy shock.

“Oh this? It was like this when we woke up.” Harry said in a nonchalant manner; shrugging as if it was nothing.

“How do you just wake up with-” Her eyes narrowed suspiciously as she caught what he’d actually said. Sure, her mind was a little tired from all the work she’d been doing, but she wasn’t stupid!

“We? Not _I_?” The dark haired young man smirked like a Cheshire cat. Rose inhaled abruptly when he did, for she saw that his teeth were now sharp and dangerous looking; like hers had been when she had… no… it couldn’t be!?

“Am I speaking to Harry or the symbiote?” She asked as realization sunk in and she regarded the other warily; folding her arms over her shapely chest.

“ _Both_ actually.” Harry’s smirk widened as he regarded her appearance too; apparently liking what they saw. The ravenette blinked and then frowned: blushing a little, but trying to remain collected. The mutant wasn’t sure if what was happening was good or bad yet… but she was worried for Harry.

“Both…? You mean you’re working as one?” She asked in disbelief. And the other gave a nod. Rose didn’t believe it… all this time she’d been so upset about the symbiote leaving her and here it was, bound to Harry of all people…! And the doctor had the sneaky suspicion that it must have been on him this entire time! It couldn’t survive long without a host… but why Harry? And wait… was he moving closer to her?!

Rose only had about a split second to realize Harry was closing in on her before she felt his strong arms around her! He pulled her into a hug and buried his nose in her hair; inhaling her scent and exhaling slowly in a manner that sounded like a soft little growl. Rose couldn’t help relaxing in his hold; feeling the rumbling in his chest as it was pressed comfortably against her own. The mutant didn’t feel any sense of danger. In fact, the other’s embrace was more inviting than it usually was.

“Ours-ssssssssss…” She heard them whisper in a sweetly possessive way. The ravenette leaned her head forward and nuzzled his neck; a little shocked when she heard a low purr come from Harry! And then, she felt him picking her up bridal style and looked to see that he was carrying her over to the bed!

“H-Harry… what are you doing?” Rose couldn’t help the damn butterfly feeling from creeping up on her again as she felt her face heat up.

“Not Harry… We are Venom once again, and tonight we s-ssshall finally _claim_ _our_ precious-sss flower!” Venom told her; his tone sounding _most_ eager as it set her down gently onto the mattress. Her jaw dropped and she gaped at the other for a moment before her face turned a lovely shade of crimson!

“Whatever happened to taking it slow?” She asked bashfully; a rousing shiver ran down her spine when she saw his hungry expression. Rose knew they would become intimate at some point and wasn’t as opposed to the idea of that point being now… but Harry _had_ been adamant about them being patient. And she didn’t want to do anything to make him upset with her.

“It’ss been s-sslow enough! We cannot wait any longer!” Venom replied in a tone of impatience and longing. He crawled onto the bed and toward her like a komodo dragon toward it’s wounded prey; pushing her back into a lying down position so that he could hover over that supple body both symbiotic partners had been waiting so very long to explore!

Venom was a little surprised that she complied, and took encouragement to continue from her warm smile; liking how they could always seem to make her blush and wondering how such a simple thing as that could be so alluring. He reached down and ran a hand through her silken midnight hair, before leaning down to bring their lips together in a passionate kiss and Venom almost lost his self-restraint right there. Ooooh! THIS is what they had been waiting for!

And the physician couldn’t help but to notice the feather light touches that she began to experience all over her body as soon as their lips made contact. Grey orbs looked to her arm to investigate and widened when she saw quite a few black tendrils, no thicker than her own index finger, ghosting over every bit of her that they could reach. And they were all coming from Harry… or rather Venom’s body!

Rose stretched out her hands and ran them over his clothed chest; lightly trailing her fingernails over the material of his shirt and through the many threads of the black substance that were forming; causing them to quiver as the owner above her emitted another purr.

The symbiote didn’t know her touch could feel soooo _good_! It wanted more, and Harry agreed wholeheartedly, as the two unwound their fingers from her hair and grasped onto the front of her dress to pull the front of it down; exposing those firm, sensitive globes! Venom looked surprised for a moment before smirking toothily.

“You’re not wearing a bra…!” He sounded quite pleased with this, and enjoyed how flushed she became.

“They can’t be worn with this kind of dress… the straps would show.” She said matter of factly. Venom gave a rumbling chortle; sitting up and straddling her hips in a manner so that he did not put any weight on her, and she gasped when she felt warm hands begin to fondle her chest like Harry had done before. Rose couldn’t help wondering if his love of working with his hands had made his touch so skillful?

The tendrils spread out from his body when he rose up so that they could continue to caress her body. It felt like phantom touches and the more Rose felt, the more she craved! They were just _so_ teasing, and seemed to refuse to add any more pressure, which the physician thought was driving her slowly insane.  Her back arched when Venom gave her nipples a rough pinch; drawing a breathy moan from her.

The thin, inky tentacles coiled their way up her legs and when they reached underneath of her dress and crept up her inner thighs, Rose gave a tiny yelp in surprise and looked up at Venom, who inclined his head a little to the side; a sly smirk on his face as the threads began slithering ever so leisurely over her panties. Her slender fingers curled into the blankets at the new sensation.

“That’s not fair!” She mewled poutingly, and Venom quirked a curious eyebrow; waiting for her to elaborate.

“You get to touch me all you want, but I can’t reach you at all!” To emphasis her point, she raised her arms to show that she couldn’t even touch his chest. A seconds consideration and some skillful maneuvering, and Rose found herself sitting astride Venom now! Her legs on either side of his hips; the skirt of her dress riding up to the point that the symbiotic pair could clearly see the lacy black panties underneath!

“Mmmmh, we think this-ss is-ss a _much_ better pos-ssition!” They concurred happily. Though, they thought the dress was getting in the way of their view. But that was easily remedied when Venom formed razor sharp claws and began slicing the garment off of her body; being careful not to hurt her. Rose was smart enough to stay still when she felt something sharp cutting through the material of her dress.

Now all she had on between her and them was just that thin pair of panties, which she doubted would be the case for too long. During the swift re-positioning of the other, the ravenette found her hands resting on his lean stomach, which she used to brace herself from the sudden change of positions.

And upon feeling around and then glancing down, did she see that Harry’s body was now covered in the Venom suit that was so lewdly tight, that it looked more like his skin had simply taken on the coloration and smooth, liquid texture of the symbiote instead! Mesmerized by the physique beneath her, did the lass begin letting her hands roam over his torso. Rose had found Harry’s body to be quite handsome from the first time that she’d seen him naked, but due to her having to keep a professional state of mind, she hadn’t been able to really enjoy drinking in the site of it until now.

Venom took pleasure in the fact that their mate was enjoying this as much as they were, and also from the way she touched them. Nimble fingers caressing and groping the rippling muscles; starting with his pectorals and giving his nubs a light pinch for a change, and then working her way down his abs. He purred and groaned at her ministrations and the symbiote couldn’t help but be glad the Harry human had allowed it to share his body so that this could happen.

Venom wanted to pick up the pace, but Harry reasoned to the symbiote they had to be patient or they might hurt or scare Rose; and neither wanted that… but _damn_ if she didn’t know how to make them feel good! Without thinking, Venom thrust his hips upward when Rose entwined her fingers with some of the dark little vines that were reaching out from his body to hers and played with them; causing his groin to collide with hers and sending a jolt throughout their bodies from the point of contact!

They froze and just stared at each other for about a minute. Then, Rose ever so carefully pressed her pelvic region to his again and mimicked the motion he’d made; causing them to gasp. It was wonderfully surprising to feel the growing bulge between his legs, and Rose flushed at the thought of being the cause of it!

A slender hand slid its way down her stomach and then between her legs, as Rose found that such a simple piece of clothing was suddenly far too confining and restricting, and phased it off of her body along with her shoes and socks; the shoes could be heard thudding softly against the floor under the bed as she tossed the garment off in a random direction, not caring where they landed.

She leaned down and claimed his lips in a heated kiss; swiping the tip of her tongue across his lips and feeling quite giddy when she was granted access. The young woman couldn’t control how amorous Venom made her feel! Her heart was racing and as their chests pressed together, she could feel that his was too.

The passionate physician could feel the symbiote’s tentacles eagerly wriggling all over her; especially her newly exposed bit of flesh! Rose moaned into the other’s mouth; her tongue sensually dueling with Venom’s serpentine one, while the inky little vines slid over her womanhood teasingly, before they began to spread her open!

Venom gave a throaty growl of arousal as they felt the softness of her folds, and was taken aback by how wet she was already! Strong, possessive hands took a firm grasp of her buttocks and gave it a squeeze. He gave her bottom lip a nibble before slipping his tongue into her mouth to explore every nook and cranny of the moist cavern; drawing all manner of seductive sounds from the enticing beauty above him.

The tendrils parted her tight folds so that one could push its way inside of her. Rose inhaled a sharp intake of breath in surprise; all aquiver as she only thought they were just going to touch her, and not do _that!_ Not that she minded of course. And after the first one wiggled its way in it was followed by one after the other: each going slow so that she would have time to adjust to accommodate another.

The symbiotic pair was thoroughly relishing just how tight the woman was down there! The alien didn’t know human anatomy well enough to know that a female’s body could be so alluring. And it was struggling like hell not to take her then and there! Especially with the way she began to arch back against the intruding tentacles; positively _begging_ for more!

But, it would wait and prepare her first like Harry advised it to; he may not have had sex with anyone before, but that still didn’t stop him from having learned enough about it in Sex Ed. Class, adult (*cough* porn! *cough*) magazines and media, to know the basics like any guy as smart as himself. The living liquid wanted her to enjoy this too; which she thankfully was so far.

The slivers of symbiote slithering around inside of her began to go deeper, as the friction of how they alternatively slid steadily in and out of her began to make Rose’s hot, virgin channel slicker and easier to explore. Venom was positively captivated by how her body reacted to his stimuli. And as it and Harry were bonded now, he could feel everything the symbiote was doing, and vice versa; and it was beyond anything the former villain had ever imagined might happen to him… considering he never thought he’d play host to an alien with tentacles.

Hooded eyes gazed into green ones that mirrored her own lust as she slowly broke the kiss for air; sucking on his prehensile tongue while she eased back. Rose was panting at the overwhelming sensations. Her body began rubbing against his before her pleasure clouded mind could register what she was doing; she was used to acting on instinct and thus figured why stop now? 

Oooooooooh, that did it! The symbiote couldn’t restrain itself any longer once Rose started doing that! And the next thing either of them knew, they were back on top of their adorably needy flower; however now, Venom had nestled himself between her svelte legs. The raven haired lass was a little startled by the abruptness and gave a mewl of protest when she felt the tendrils inside of her suddenly withdrawn.

“Venom… _please_ …” The woman pleaded adorably, and a flash of desire and panic crossed over the other’s face, before he smiled affectionately; with the razor teeth, it looked a little predatorial, though that only made him all the more attractive to her. She needed him _badly_ ; her body felt like it was on fire and somehow lonely, despite his closeness. The woman didn’t know how to voice the words in her current state, but was grateful that such an issue had never been a problem with either the symbiote or Harry. Actions speak louder than words after all…

She felt her legs being parted further, and then the feeling of something _much_ bigger than those tendrils, press against her womanhood! Though Rose suddenly felt a little anxious, it was outweighed by longing to be with the ones, (or technically now it was one since they had bonded), that she loved, so the doctor did her best to relax and make things easier for both of them.

Meanwhile, Venom was trying his damnedest to be as gentle as possible and not rush this, but the symbiote was practically screaming at and begging Harry that they be allowed to just do it already! And though he couldn’t help but want to as well, he pointed out the expression Rose wore of strain mixed with pleasure, and the symbiote gave an impatient hiss and conceded.

Her eyes were shut as the other entered her untried body; steadily going further and further inside of her tight, virgin channel. The woman took a few shaky breaths as she felt her body trying to accommodate the rock hard invader; and then his movement ceased when her hymen stopped him from going any further, causing her to look up at him.

He gave an adorably irked growl before taking a deep breath. Then, he pulled almost all the way out and paused to glance at his mate for permission. Their eyes met and Rose gave a nod, only to throw her head back in the next instant, as her body arched and her breath hitched, when he swiftly thrust inside and through her maidenhead!

Venom gave a low rumble as he continued to gradually push his way deeper and deeper into her unexplored depths instead of moving in an in and out motion like most humans would; the symbiote having more dominance at this point, since Harry’s mind was simply too caught up in the experience to have told it that they probably should have given her a little time to adjust. The passionate physician moaned in between pants; grasping at the blankets again and wrapping those willowy legs around her lovers waist in an attempt to be closer and draw him in further. The black mass of the symbiote’s little vines had engulfed her body at this point; almost as if joining the two of them together as one.

When she felt him bump into her cervix, she felt like a jolt of electricity had been sent from Venom into her! He frowned a little; wondering why things kept trying to keep him from his goal. Though, when they felt Rose trying to thrust her hips to try and make the symbiotic partners move again, that Cheshire grin spread over his face and he was more than happy to comply; drawing all the way out and then plunging back into her maddeningly delicious body!

All the woman beneath him could do was to cry out in euphoria as she moved back to met his thrusts, and a rhythm formed. They completely lost themselves in the throes of passion; especially the symbiote who wasn’t all to use to human emotions yet (even if it was getting better at understanding them), much less the over stimulating sensations it felt now.

Venom wrapped his arms around her torso, just under her arms, and held her close as he brought their faces together in a bruising kiss; their bodies writhing in ecstasy. Rose returned the embrace; holding onto the other’s back like it was a life preserver and running her nails up and down his back and through the squirming inky mass that drew such a manner of groans and hisses from him, that she couldn’t help how his rumbling made her quiver so and do it again and again just to hear him.

And though quite some time had passed, it seemed almost all too soon when she felt her end drawing near! Venom could sense it as he had been using his powers and contact with her to keep an eye on her for _just_ the right moment. He picked up their pace and with an awestruck cry, Rose felt him pierce through the soft resistance of her cervix; planting himself firmly into her womb.

That was more than she could take, and her body began convulsing _ooooh so pleasantly_ as she leaned forward and buried her face into the crook of his neck; trying to catch her breath as wave after intoxicating wave of pleasure left her feeling as if she herself had melted and turned into a quivering symbiote.

But it wasn’t quite over yet! Venom couldn’t hold back any longer and after a few more rough thrusts into her beautiful, spasming form, he erupted inside of her; filling their oh so fine flower’s hot core with one, long stream of the symbiote’s own little surprise!

Harry’s own sperm was absorbed by the goo, seeing as he was pretty sure that Rose didn’t want to get pregnant right now, so the symbiote covering his entire body acted as protection. That didn’t mean that the alien wasn’t going to implant _its own_ offspring of sorts into her womb, and take great pleasure as it saw her taut stomach bulge out a little; like a woman would as she was just beginning to show!

As soon as she felt something tantalizingly warm filling her up, she ended up being overcome by another mind numbing orgasm; her body naturally trying to milk her lover for every last drop she could get! And the ardent young woman gave a cute little mewl when the other stopped ejaculating and arched against him wantonly; sweetly asking for more.

Venom gave a rumbling chuckle and then turned them over so that she was lying on top of him; arms and pitch black matter still greedily wrapped around her subtly trembling form. It was their new position of her being on her stomach, and the pressure that she felt in being so, that made her realize just how full she was!

The symbiont and its host gradually pulled out of her; eliciting another whimper, but she made no move to make them stop simply because she was exhausted from all their fervent activity, and instead nuzzled his neck. Rose let the other slide her body off of his own so that she could be right beside him as he turned on his side to hold her better, and so as to place his hand on her stomach; gingerly and very lovingly caressing it.

Rose gasped breathlessly when she felt the substance in her womb squirm a little, and as he could feel the movement under his hand, Venom gave a quiet purr and rubbed his cheek against the top of her head affectionately. The doctor knew human sperm couldn’t do _that_ and moved to look up at her lover’s face.

“Venom, what did you put inside of me?” He smiled sweetly at her as he ran a hand through her hair; twirling the strands lazily between his fingers.

“You are _our_ mate now, it is-sss only right that you carry _our progeny_ … and now, you can.” Her face lit up as bright as a tomato as his words sunk in: the ravenette’s hand sliding down and easily through the goo to feel her stomach. He put his hand over hers as she felt the little bump and how it moved again.

“I… I didn’t know you reproduced! But I guess this is why you were in such a frenzy to mate…” She said breathlessly in amazement. The other purred contently and gave her a little kiss.

“Our Ros-ssse is-ss s-ssso clever… but, we do not need another to have offs-ssspring.” The woman blinked; her brow furrowing.

“But… if you don’t need me, then why did you put it inside of me at all?” At this, Venom frowned; as if having trouble thinking of the right way to phrase what it wanted to say. Though, after a while, he spoke again.

“It is a piece of ourselves that we wanted to give to you… so that we would always be with you… We… did it out of… _love_.” He told her slowly and sincerely. Rose couldn’t help the tender smile that she directed at the other, as it gladdened her heart that the other cared so much that it would want to give a special symbiote of her own in such a loving and grand a gesture.

“Thank you, Venom… I love you too!” Rose replied in kind; leaning up and capturing the other in a sweet bit of osculation! He smiled and gave a nod; blushing a little before pulling her smaller frame right up against his and burying his face in her hair again. They laid there blissfully, for how long, neither knew; just basking in the sweet afterglow.

“So, what happens now? With our offspring I mean.” Venom kept his eyes closed and thought for a moment.

“When it is-sss ready, it will bond with you. Be… _patient_.” The other told her; saying the last word teasingly, and she couldn’t suppress a light laugh that was slightly muffled by where she lay snuggling against his chest.

“As you say my dearheart.” Rose replied with a yawn. The black mass that still blanketed her exhausted and naked body, gave a happy little wriggle as he made another rumbling purr; both finding contentment in the company of the other, while they drifted off into dreamland and they held each other close…

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is my first time writing an intimate scene like this LOL so please go easy on me and if you have any tips I'll appreciate them! X3


	36. Actions Speak Louder than Words

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rose shows Venom that actions speak louder than words. ^_^

Rose awoke to the feeling of a warm and liquid smooth mass slithering slowly over her body. Her first thought was that it was Venom still clinging to her and having awoken as well. However, when she slowly sat up and looked down, did she find that the symbiont covering her was not only coming from her own body, but that something was different about the black substance: it didn't have that bluish tint to it that Venom's did. In fact, it seemed to be completely pitch! Her eyes widened in panic at first, but a familiar and comforting shushing sound from beside her that was reminiscent of a hiss, caught her attention.

Venom was up and crouched beside her on the bed; observing the bonding process that her body was now going through with _intense_ fascination. That little symbiote she now had was really a piece of itself that it had specifically been working on just so that it could make her a compatible mate for itself! And not to mention so, that a part of Venom would _always_ be with her…

Little tendrils covered her body like overzealous ivy; leaving a tingling sensation all over the woman that slowly increased as it bonded with her. Venom, in all his eerie splendor: mask and all, grinned that lovely lethal grin of his as an idea came to mind. He crawled over her so that his body was just a few inches above hers: a clawed hand of his on either side of Rose's head as he leaned down so they'd be face to face.

"Do you trus-ssst us-sss?" He asked in a curious yet hushed tone. Rose knew it was a question to be taken seriously; especially when asked by two someone's who had their own trust issues to deal with. And though she had her own, Rose knew as soon as he asked her, what her answer was…

"Yes." Rose replied softly with a sincere smile, and that was all Venom needed to hear! Its grin came back full force as its serpentine tongue flicked out to lick her cheek in an appreciative and loving manner that made her giggle. Then, he moved to the side a little as his face came to regard her naked shoulder for a moment.

The next thing Rose knew, she gave a cry of surprise and pain, as Venom bit into the section of tender flesh where neck met shoulder! Her hands flew up to hold onto her lover's back for comfort; her nails digging in from the pain as those shape teeth dug in deeper! Venom gave a throaty growl of pleasure from the taste of her blood and how she held onto him so!

When the symbiotic being pulled back to admire his love bite, he gave a rumble of satisfied glee when he saw the black symbiote suddenly squirm excitedly and head straight for the bleeding wound! Rose gave another little cry when her symbiote began forcing its way into the wound, but the sound was muffled when Venom pulled back his mask enough to give her a kiss to comfort her. Venom hadn't wanted to hurt her at all, but it wanted to make sure that he could _always_ be with her no matter what.

It was not surprising to say that having an alien symbiote easing its way into your wound and your bloodstream to bond with you from the inside out was more painful than anything she'd experienced in quite a long time. She knew Venom didn't mean to cause her such agony, and did her best to show her appreciation by not taking a page from Tabitha's book and ripping him apart molecule by molecule when he distracted her with kisses and consolingly apologetic caresses.

The pain continued on for a few more minutes; all the while Venom comforted his lovely flower as best he could. Despite how strong they knew Rose was, as they watched her close her eyes and try to ignore the discomfort, they could see that she could be just as fragile as her namesake: and it made them love and want to protect her all the more!

Strong arms wrapped around the physician and pulled her up against a broad chest. Rose smiled a little and nuzzled against the offered warmth gratefully; a pleased rumbling could be heard from her lover as he held her as close as possible without enveloping her in his symbiote again.

The bonding seemed to have completed as the pain became more of a dull ache that was far more bearable and Rose was finally able to slowly open her eyes to see what had happened. She could feel that it had formed a suit on her body as Fin had when she was its host.

She pulled away from the other's embrace to examine her body; looking over her hands and experimentally moving her fingers. With a quick glance to Venom, who nodded, Rose moved off of the bed and went over to the full length mirror in the corner. The style of her suit resembled the one that Fin had made for her as Infinita. However, the difference was that instead of being solid black like this new symbiote had been when it first started out, was that it appeared to take on the color of blood!

The symbiote was now crimson with a black tint to it! It was quite lovely in her opinion, and felt just as good on her as Fin had. It was like it had never left Rose; a thought which made her smile happily as she examined her reflection.

The young woman gave a little start when Venom slide one arm around her waist and the other over her shoulder; hunching down so as to get closer to her and resting his chin on her shoulder. It was obvious that he was waiting for her to voice her approval; even if he could see how much she liked it. It was still good to hear.

Rose's smile widened and she placed her arms over where his hands met on her abdomen. She slowly turned around in his hold so that she could speak with him face to face as that was more polite, but when she went to open her mouth to say what she wanted to, Rose found that words couldn't quite describe just how much she loved Venom's gift and his love…

Upon her miniscule frown, Venom quirked a brow and was about to ask what was wrong, before she reached up, grabbed his face firmly and pulled him into a tender loving kiss! He hadn't even pulled his mask back yet, but he wasn't exposing those menacing fangs of his either; so his face was all black except where the whites for his eyes were; which meant that she was kissing the symbiote itself! (And technically Harry as well since he wore it.)

Venom's eyes widened in surprise at first, but then they closed a moment after the initial shock had been replaced by the enjoyable feeling she offered oh so willingly. Even though the symbiote could feel every touch, kiss and well, everything that Rose and Harry did; those sensations seemed to intensify when such ministrations and affections were made directly to the black goo!

And the next thing the symbiote knew, it instinctively formed itself to match the shape of Harry's lips so that they could continue. Rose wasted no time in deepening the kiss; sliding her tongue over the inky lips of her lover, only to be encouraged by how the black mass shivered and he gasped.

As his serpentine tongue dueled with her own (as she now had her own symbiotic suit on), neither even noticed where they were until Venom gave a surprised little hiss when he felt the cool solid form of the wall collide with his back. Their merry make out session continued on until Venom had to part for air since Harry did need it. Venom gazed lovingly at the red clad Rose: combing his fingers through her symbiote covered hair and giving her a curious look.

"If that is-sss how you show your gratitude, then we are mos-ssst pleas-sssed!" He remarked happily, and Rose couldn't help grinning toothily: quite glad that her message got across successfully.

"Well if that's the case, then I could thank you all day." She replied playfully; pressing her body against his as she draped her arms around his muscular shoulders. Venom gave a low purr and nuzzled the top of her head.

"S-sssounds like a plan!" He said with a gruff little chortle. But, before they could continue their fun, there was a soft knock at the door. Both Rose and Venom turned their heads toward the sound before glancing back at each other with a bemused expression. Then realization dawned on his face as he suddenly felt like slapping himself for not remembering until now!

"What is it Bernard?" Harry asked as the symbiote retracted from his face and started forming a black robe. Rose saw this and hers formed into a red robe as Harry moved to stand in front of the door.

"Good morning Master Harry! I was just wondering if you wanted any breakfast?" The butler asked quaintly; seeming to be in a good mood. Ugh, why hadn't Harry remembered to call Bernard back last night and give him today off too? He felt like banging his head against the wall; especially when he could feel the symbiote glaring at him for his forgetfulness. But it was short-lived as Harry pointed out that the alien had forgotten too; which only made it pout. Harry gave a quick glance to Rose, who smiled and gave a nod before he answered.

"Yes, breakfast for two will be fine Bernard. Thank you." At this answer, the elderly man on the other side seemed to be processing this and then gave such a giddy response.

"Oh! Very good Sir! Right away!" And then the fading and muffled footsteps could be heard as he left to fulfill his duties for the day. Harry sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair. Well, at least they hadn't been interrupted last night, so that was good he figured.

"I'd suggest that we take a shower together… but I have a feeling we wouldn't get clean." Rose said with a knowing giggle as she eyed her somewhat frumpy lover.

"So, I think this time we'll do better separately." Harry frowned in a pouting way, which only served to make him all the more cute, but nodded in agreement nonetheless and told her she could go first. They took turns getting cleaned up for the day and then when they formed some appropriate clothing to wear, they headed to the kitchen and dined in there together much to Bernard's delight.

It gladdened his heart to see the couple getting along so wonderfully. They didn't need to speak about their relationship for him to know that they were deeply in love. After all, when it came to these two (technically three)… actions spoke louder than words!

* * *


	37. A Moments Hesitation Can Be Fatal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which sinister schemes are spun...

"WHAT DO YOU **MEAN** IT WAS A FAKE?! What the hell am I paying you imbeciles for if you can't even tell the difference between a real AND A FAKE!" Yelled the current and VERY irate employer of the Enforcers. The leader of whom, though he didn't take kindly to the insults given, still knew better than to retaliate. So long as Mister High 'n Mighty was still paying, he'd keep his cool.

"Now, now. We DID get interrupted by a couple o' those costumed kooks who call 'emselves heroes ya know. Not ta mention Spider-Spaz showed up. Between them an' tryin' ta nab that gadget a yers, we were a bit rushed. Mostly seein' as how I had ta limp outta thar with it 'n all. That monstrous woman, if you can call somethin' like THAT a woman, dang near killed off almost everyone one a us. We're lucky we got anythin'." The Texan known as Shocker drawled coolly; his arms folded over his chest.

His two comrades stood a ways behind him on either side and gave a nod; they felt quite glad that they had gone to that party via their robot duplicates rather than in person. Not only did the robots get their little field test done with them controlling their own mechanical doppelganger, but it also saved them from having been massacred by that freaky chick in the black suit.

"I don't care what you say attacked you! You were armed with some of the best technology money can buy, as well as those other men you said could handle this task!" Arthur Avis exclaimed as he slammed his fist on his desk angrily.

Fools, he was surrounded by incompetent fools! The lot of them! The only one who seemed to be useful in his menagerie was that Warren woman. And even she tried his patience at times. Unlike these morons however, she was indispensable. At least for now anyway…

"Ya have ta understand somethin' here, Sir. If we were able to, like all 'em other times ya asked us ta pull a job like that 'ne, don't you think we woulda?" Shocker reasoned calmly.

He hated how easily irritable their boss was. It was like the guy was an impatient old codger instead of a young man. The criminal for hire figured maybe all rich folk acted all spoiled rotten like that. Or perhaps just most of them anyway.

"GRRRRAAAH!" The irate businessman picked up a glass sphere shaped paperweight and threw it at the Shocker; who ended up flinching from the pain of his still healing injuries to avoid getting the orb smashed into his face. The glass hit the wall behind the crook and shattered; which only served to upset their employer further, if that were even freaking possible.

"You don't understand! I spent almost as much time planning that heist as Osborn spent building that blasted prototype! And now I find out, that after all that work, the damn thing you barely managed to steal for me is A FAKE!" Shocker thankfully resisted the urge to smirk at how clever that Harry kid had been to pull that trick, since he knew doing something like that might get him skinned alive.

"It seems that no matter what I try to do, he almost always finds a way to foil me!" The prim villain heaved a huff of a sigh and pressed his fingers to his temple. It was all starting to give him another headache.

A tense silence fell over the office as the combination of closed blinds and dim lighting added to the grimness of the dark atmosphere. Ox and Dan were smart enough to know to stay quiet anyway unless ordered to otherwise by Shocker or Avis, and thus hung in the background like they were apart of the wall they each waited by.

"It would seem…" Arthur began with a forced calm as he started to formulate a solution to his problems, or rather problem seeing as how he believed Harry to be the source. "… that I am in need of _stronger medicine_ if I am to rid myself of that festering little whelp of a boy and this black plague of his." A calculating pensiveness befell the businessman as his hand slid down to stroke his chin while Shocker quirked a curious brow.

"Hmm… yes, and I think I know just the doctor who can prescribe it for me too." The criminal for hire wasn't sure he liked the sound of that; especially the way that his employer chortled darkly, before the man turned from gazing out between the blinds of his office window to face the Enforcers again.

"But Sir, what about that Spider fella? He's just as troublesome, if not more so than that black suited gal. I've only encountered her once sa far. But he keeps poppin' up!" It was quite true that Spider-Man had made more appearances than that new threat they'd had the unfortunate luck of meeting at that party.

And Avis wasn't about to let the web-head go unpunished either. They ALL deserved to suffer his wrath. Arthur took that into consideration and then smirked sinisterly as his gaze met Shocker's; and it was enough to creep out even the leader of the Enforcers.

"Oh, with what I have in store for those insignificant pests, I've no worries of that. They'll slip up eventually, and then we'll have them! And then, there will be _no one_ to stand in my way. Not Norman, not Harry; his pitiful excuse for a son, and especially not that wretch Spider-Man!" The cruel man said devilishly (though more to himself than anyone else); his emerald eyes glinting madly, before giving a wave of his hand to dismiss them after he glimpsed the time on his watch. The crooks left feeling uneasy, but hoped they'd at least be well compensated.

Meanwhile, Arthur Avis began turned back to gazing out his window to idly watch as the sun began to rise and signal that morning was creeping ever closer; just as his coming victory from raining down vengeance upon OsCorp was.

And as Arthur stood there peering out between the blinds with a wicked smirk, his reflection on the glass of a young man began fading to one of an elderly bald man. His custom tailored suit was now loose on his frail old form, and as his most hated nemesis had once quipped, the man now more resembled a vulture than a person. Or was it a buzzard…? Ah well, it wasn't like he went out of his way to remember everything that idiot said.

Standing in the place of Arthur Avis now stood the man known as Adrian Toomes. And how was such a thing possible one might wonder? Well, it was all due in part to a certain physician he had in his pocket by the name of Dr. Michelle Warren.

He'd taken an interest in her when she came asking for someone to fund her rather… _questionable_ experiments. One of which, happened to be research into rejuvenation, or what he liked referring to as a youth serum. It was the reason he was able to enjoy being his youthful guise of Arthur Avis. Even if it was only for short amounts of time.

But with Dr. Warren's help he was sure he'd be able to see his plans come to fruition, so that he could once and for all stomp out that weasel Harry, OsCorp, as well as any and all who dared to oppose him as the whelp did.

With that thought in mind, he began formulating what he would do next before giving a certain doctor of his a call to set the proverbial wheels in motion. Yes… it would all work itself out the way he planned. He'd see to that!

It didn't matter who that simpering little Osborn had to back him up. Be it Spider-Man or this new so-called heroine or even God himself! He'd have the last laugh in the end. Sooner or later they'd make a mistake and he would be there when they did. Because after all, even a moments hesitation can be fatal…


	38. Catch Me If You Can

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Rose and Venom/Harry play a little game that takes an interesting turn...

And so, a while after breakfast, it was business as usual for Harry and Rose. They had their work to attend to, and just like every time they had time for each other, the lovers spent it as best as they could. And when they were together, it was difficult to get them apart!

Harry wasn't sure who their periods of separation bothered most: him or the symbiote… of course, after an argument while he was in his office at OsCorp that got them nowhere, the two decided to call it a tie so that Harry could get through the rest of his day so they could go have lunch with Rose.

Even though Harry had long since learned that Rose was a mutant, he couldn't help finding himself surprised by her many talents! Especially that teleporting trick she used to catch him off guard because, as she said "You look so cute when you're startled." to which he couldn't help rolling his eyes at despite how happy it made him.

And although he did have a Healing Factor of his own, Rose still had him take Phenethylamine supplements every once in a while just to make sure he and Fin were fine and healthy. It made Venom feel special to have someone actually care and worry about him as Rose did.

When they had the time, Harry took her out on little dates which Rose found quite enjoyable. They were mostly lunch dates, but sometimes they'd go take their symbiotic suits out to play around so that Harry could get used to it.

Harry found he had the most fun when Rose would challenge him to a game she called "Catch Me If You Can" like she did on this particular night. The purpose of it was basically that they tried to catch each other. It was like an awesome combination of Tag, Hide-and-Seek and street gymnastics. Especially the way they played.

Harry really liked how much of a kid Rose was when she wanted to be, and couldn't help getting into it himself. It made the brunette wonder if that's how fun his childhood could've been if he had a friend like her to play with as a kid… or any friends at all for that matter.

He'd always been a bit awkward and shy as a child, and never felt like he fit in anywhere. Heck, he still felt like that sometimes when he wasn't around Rose, but now he was better at dealing with it. Besides, with her, Venom felt happy and at home.

They were web-slinging high above the city, and tonight Harry was hot on her tail! The scarlet-black clad doctor took a sharp swing around the corner. It caught him off guard as he had been distracted by his thoughts, and by the time he managed to make the turn, the young man was staggered to see that he had lost her!

Venom immediately landed on a ledge; half sticking to the concrete wall as he looked around. They weren't allowed to use their powers to find one another as that was one of the few rules to this particular game, and Venom found it frustrating to say the least.

A twinge of panic began to bubble up inside of Harry's stomach after a few minutes and it made the symbiote uneasy. But they had to be good and play by the rules… They hopped and webbed their way between the buildings and scoured the rooftops before her absence really began bothering them.

He hated it when she did that to him. Up and hiding like that. Sure, it was apart of the game, but even so, it irked him every time it happened. "I can't make it _too easy_ , Dearheart." Rose would tell him with that sexily sly smile of hers the few times he conveyed his distress.

A flash of movement from their left caught their attention. He spun around and darted off toward it, only to see that it was a flag fluttering in the wind. Venom heaved a hiss of a sigh and frowned worryingly while looking about again.

Where was she? Did something happen to her? The anxiety began creeping over him. Despite how powerful he knew her to be, what if there was someone more powerful? And what if they had found out about Rose and had nabbed her?

They could be doing unspeakable things to their darling flower and here he was still thinking the game was on like a moron! The minutes continued to pass as his search for her became steadily more frantic.

Venom had to perch himself on the ledge of a rooftop to collect himself, as he felt as if he were about to start hyperventilating after he could find absolutely no sign of their beloved.

Maybe… they could use their power to find her now? If they were doing it for the right reasons like making sure she was okay, and if she was in fact safe and sound then it wasn't cheating. And Rose couldn't get mad about that, right? But if she was in danger, and he didn't, then she'd definitely be upset about that.

But just as Venom was about to use their ability, he was grabbed from behind and pulled backward! He lost his balance, but the arms wrapping around his torso underneath of his held fast and kept him on his feet.

"Gotcha!" Whispered the gleeful voice of Rose into his ear as she held him close. Venom immediately relaxed in her hold and felt a calming warmth cascade over himself when they realized she was okay and that they were just being overprotective again.

She nuzzled his neck and giggled when small tendrils reached up from his suit to caress her face since they tickled. "You started freaking out again, didn't you?" Venom's face grew warm under their mask and he pouted. "No…" He lied lamely.

Rose gave a snort of laughter and pressed one of her hands over his heart. "Really? Because if you did, I would've thought it was sweet and gave you a kiss. But if not, then…" He abruptly spun around in her arms and pulled her into a rough kiss that conveyed the need and dread he'd felt.

The fine physician felt her knees go weak from the sudden and passionate kiss, but Venom was prone to do such things and she very much welcomed it. Still, it did make her feel bad that he'd been so distressed even if it was apart of the game.

They slowly parted and Venom was very hesitant to do so. Rose eyed him for a moment and then leaned in and gently nudged her forehead against his in a consoling and apologetic manner before doing it again to his cheek. Her affections drew a quiet purr of appreciation from him.

That serpentine tongue of his lolled out and slowly flicked over her cheek. Rose murred happily before hers flitted out to catch his and pull him into another round of intoxicating osculation. Their tongues dancing and sliding over the other like mating snakes.

Venom wrapped his arms around her waist firmly before using a tentacle to sweep her off of her feet, before possessively pinning her down onto the ground with just enough weight of his own body to hold her.

When she eyed him questioningly, he grinned toothily. "Now we've got you!" Came the low rumble, and she smirked. "Dirty tactics, my darling… I like that." Rose's white symbiotic eyes gleamed playfully as she wrapped her legs around his waist and gave a tug; swiftly bringing their bodies closer.

They hadn't been expecting their pretty physician to do that, and groaned when she ground their lower regions together in a positively lewd manner. "I can play dirty too." He would've laughed at her quip had he not been busy burying his face against her neck to give it a sharp love bite.

She yelped in surprise but then leaned her head to the side to give him better access; moaning softly when he licked at the freshly made mark that was already healing. It always fascinated him to watch that happen, and so he gave her another bite.

This one was harder as he let their razor teeth sink into the flesh and muscle. The sweet, coppery taste of blood filling their mouth and staining their previously white teeth for the time being, and making his tongue hungrily lap at every bit it could get at.

Her clawed fingers racked across his back; tearing apart the pitch alien and causing it to quiver; the feeling of vibrations from his lusty growl sent tingling shocks from the wound to the rest of her body.

The ravenettes back arched up into the muscular body above as her mouth opened in a silent gasp for air. Strands of shifting red and black of her suit and the black of his reached longingly out toward one another.

They met and melded together as these two lovers did in their enthralling embrace. One of Venom's strong hands slid down her side; caressing her all the way down as he reached down between their legs to ease himself inside of their beloveds waiting body; their symbiotes merging together as they did.

Due to her healing factor, poor Rose's body would heal up and become like a virgin once again after every time they made love. But Venom was quite pleased about this as they had the pleasure of claiming her every time they did.

So he always did his best to be gentle with her, even if she said it was okay when she knew they wanted to be rough. But they didn't want to hurt her and so refrained from giving in until things got hot and heavy.

"Venom…" Rose closed her eyes and mewled his name wantonly, while she ran her clawed fingers through the black sentient suit in a loving manner that made it squirm; the sharp nails scrapping lightly across the flesh beneath it and leaving thin cuts.

Hearing her say their name like _that_ sent a surge of excitement through them which accidentally caused her symbiotic lover to thrust a little too roughly and end up sheathing himself halfway inside that tight channel.

Her breath hitched as her body spasmed. Rose's grip on his back tightened for a brief moment when it happened and he ended up clamping down harder on the section where throat met shoulder with a deep, throaty groan.

His eyes roll back into his head at how good that felt but hoped he hadn't upset her. It had hurt, but at the same time, with Venom it was also quite pleasurable. And when she caught her breath, Rose began pushing up against him to urge them on; running her hands over his back to show it was okay.

The brunette retracted his teeth from her flesh to lap and kiss at the wound and watch it heal. Sometimes they wished they could leave a scar on that delicious pale flesh… but the symbiote and its host supposed having apart of their self forever fused with her blood was the best mark they could make.

They liked how she would retract her suit when they bit her like this. At night, the dark red forming wetly against that alabaster skin looked almost black in the dim light of the city.

The two twisted lovers rocked back and forth against one another in a slow and steady rhythm that grew fervent very quickly. And soon their mouths were trapped together in a stream of hot, wet kisses. Thin, pink tinged threads of saliva connecting them when their alien tongues lolled out to give their respective mate a loving lick in-between the osculating.

No words were needed between them anymore now that they were linked by the sentient aliens they played host to. They could feel what the other wanted and needed and could react in kind. It was like they merged when they mated, and neither could think of a reason they ever wanted that to change.

Skin slid against skin and symbiote against symbiote; their bodies colliding together with such fervor, as if they hoped they could meld into one like their suits, until finally these strange lovers reached the climax of their evening.

Rose felt the warm, vicious form of Venom convulse and spill itself inside of her as if the living goo were trying to leave Harry by crawling inside of her. It pierced her womb and filled her up to the point that she could see it writhing around when she looked down at her stomach; which brought on another wave of orgasmic bliss.

It didn't impregnate her with anymore alien offspring, as it told her the other day that it wouldn't for now as it had its reasons. And while she respected that, Rose couldn't help missing how good it made her feel to carry its progeny.

She reached a hand down to caress her stomach and moaned breathlessly as it pressed up against her insides to lean into her touch. It hurt so mind-blowingly wonderfully that she didn't want it to stop, and gave a whimper of protest when it slid out of the tight confines of her body when Harry did.

Venom silenced her with a comforting kiss; reaching up his thumb to brush away tears she hadn't even realized had formed at the corners of her white eyes. When they finally parted to gaze at one another, they were both panting and well spent from their amorous activities.

And after a few minutes of resting, they reluctantly separated themselves and their symbiotes to stand up. Rose ran a hand through the hair-like strands of her suit and took a calming breath of the cool night air, while Venom watched her placidly.

She turned to him and smiled warmly before pulling him into a tender embrace that he contentedly returned. "I love you, Venom." The good doctor told him softly. "We love you too, Ros-sse." They replied with a murr as they buried their face in her hair atop her bonny head to breath in that calming scent.

They held each other like that for a long while, before they headed home for the night. Their game had taken an interesting turn, and Rose had to make a mental note to herself about how maybe distressing her lover wasn't all that bad after all, and playfully thought that maybe she should do it more often when they played…


	39. Kiss with a Fist

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boo-Yah! Finally got around to updating. X3 To anyone wondering, I need to do some re-vamping for my fic "A Black Cat and a White Coat" since I feel it needs some changes made. I've also been working on my fics for the following fandoms: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2012 and Hellsing if anyone likes those fandoms and would like to check them out. ^_^

It was a pretty good day of work at the hospital for Rose. At least it had been so far. She'd checked up on Penny and found that the lass was doing very well and was happy; especially with how she and her daddy were secretly swapping letters.

Rose had been kind enough to give Flint Marko some cash to get himself a place and lay low, as she was surprisingly good at helping people do that sort of thing. So those two were taken care of enough now that Penny's mother wasn't spending all their income on medical bills anymore.

The ravenette was a lot more cheerful in going about her job ever since she and Harry/Venom had gotten together, and even Tabitha noticed. Though she did say that she found Rose's level of happiness to be quite sickening; even if the boffin was only half teasing.

And after getting a scalpel in the shoulder from having purposefully annoyed Tabitha with a chorus of "I'm walking on Sunshine", did Rose have a good laugh and appreciate how well her life was going.

Yes indeed! Nothing was going to ruin her day! The lovely lass had some clinic hours to do, and took the folder from one of the nurses at the desk, who informed her that her first patient was already waiting in the exam room for her.

It was a pretty normal thing to not look at the patient info in the folder until she was in the room with him or her, so it was nothing new either when she opened up the door and greeted whomever waited inside with a quaint smile and the usual greeting.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Ac-" She began, but was briskly cut off by a male voice as she closed the door before turning to face the patient. "Yes, I know. Dr. Aconitum." Rose turned around swiftly to see who it was, and her smile changed to a scowl in no time flat.

The sandy blonde haired man in the crisp hunter green and black pinstipe suit stood up from his seat on the exam table to hold out his hand; a glib smile plastered on his face. "A pleasure to see you again, I must say." The good doctor did not take the offered hand, and instead moved to grab some gloves to put on as he sat back down.

The man glowered slightly when she wasn't looking, but she was sure he would anyway. "What seems to be the problem, Mr. Avis?" The raven haired lass asked in a clipped tone as she took a seat in front of him on a wheelie chair; finding the presence of Arthur Avis to be a real buzz kill for her good mood.

"Right down to business, eh? I admire that." But she merely waited for him to answer with a stoic expression that unnerved him. "Er… well, you see Doctor, I seem to have this strange pain. It comes and goes without warning." He told her in a calm and falsely worried tone.

Rose quirked a brow as she waited for him to finish; not wanting to write anything down on the chart in case he was trying to pull off some cheesy pick-up line. "Tell me about this pain. Where is it? Does it radiate? Are you doing anything particular when it occurs?" The usual questions.

"It hurts right here." He held up his hand and placed it over his heart in a somewhat dramatic way; his fingers splaying out over the spot. "Whenever I think about you." Avis finished with a smarmy smile that he foolishly assumed to be charming, while Rose found it irritating.

Annnnnnnd there it was… a total waste of time. She could be examining people with ACTUAL problems. "Cut back on the cocaine you've obviously been snorting and stop being creepy. That should help, but I _highly_ recommend getting a life while you're at it." Her dry remark cut him to the quick.

Avis blinked and his eyes smoldered with anger before he managed to recompose that pseudo smile. "Ahahah! What a mouth you have there, Dr. Aconitum. I wonder if perhaps I could find a way to put it to better use than making such sharp remarks." His tone was flirty, but his eyes glinted with cruel intent.

"I doubt that, seeing as you can't seem to handle your own. You'd think knowing when to keep it shut would be something a _supposedly_ competent businessman would be capable of." Rose told him smoothly as she stood up and headed towards the door. "Now unless you have an actual medical condition, I'm happy to say I'll have to bid you goodbye, Mr. Avis."

However, just as she was about to open the door, a hand quickly landed right beside her head and slammed it shut again. The physician immediately turned around to face the man who dared to try and tower over her in a menacing way she only found irksome and stomach churning.

"Oh, but my _dear Doctor_ , I am so very much in pain. You see, it hurts me to see you wasting your time with that moron _Osborn,_ when you could be spending it wisely with _me_." He loomed closer until their faces were about four or five inches apart; invading her personal space and causing her fists to clench at her sides on instinct.

Her expression hardened as those silvery grey eyes grew stormy with warning to match her voice. "Despite the fact that I'm a doctor, you are trying my patience Mr. Avis, and I think you would do well to not speak ill of Harry in my presence, or at all for that matter. Now back off." She told him in a low, warning tone.

The sound of thunder began rumbling in the distance, as a storm began to unexpectedly brew. Rose was having a bit of a difficult time controlling her powers at the moment because of how frustrating the smarmy bastard was, and so her anger manifested into a small thunderstorm.

Avis grinned; thoroughly amused by the lovely woman's challenging attitude; not even noticing the sounds outside. He rather liked his women feisty, especially this one. She had quite the stony resolve, but the rich man was used to getting what he wanted and believed he could soften the lass to make her more _pliable._

"Mmm, why don't you make me then…" Arthur dared in a seductive tone as he began leaning toward Rose in an attempt to kiss her. Unfortunately for him, she wasn't interested AT ALL, and was quite up to the dare.

And the next thing he knew, the only thing he was kissing was her fist! "Kiss that, you arrogant vulture!" She spat acidly down at him. Her punch had knocked him flat on his ass, and he stared up at her in wide eyed disbelief with a hand painfully holding his mouth.

Rose couldn't help the sadistic smirk that played on her rosy lips. She quickly grabbed a bottle of children's aspirin from a draw, and after plucking out two of the ironically chewable tablets, she threw them aloofly at him. "Take two of those and DON'T call me in the morning, _loser_."

Without waiting for a reply of any kind, the good doctor opened the door and left him to sit stunned and in agony on the floor of the exam room. After taking a short break to cool down and make sure he had left the hospital, did Rose go back to work. Unable to help her cheery mood from returning after socking that moron. The storm outside having cleared up as her anger dissolved.

Rose smirked smugly for the rest of that day; especially when she told Harry all about it. At first Venom was enraged to hear the stunt that bastard had pulled, but once he found out how she handled the situation, he felt a little better.

Though he felt the need to cling to her more via hugs and snuggling that day. He claimed it was to comfort her after the upsetting event that had happened, but she knew it was more that he needed to be comforted than the other way around. And so she gave him all the love and consoling she could that night.

Arthur Avis on the other hand had not left the clinic in a pleasant mood that day. In fact, he was pretty sure one of his front teeth was loose. The sandy blonde never thought she would hit him! What was WRONG with her anyway?!

He was so much better than that _Osborn_ brat! The man may have only been trying to gain her affections just to sleep with her and further torment Harry, but he still thought himself to be better than that whelp.

Besides, she was rather interesting. He could see why the Osborn twit had a thing for her. There was some irresistible quality she possessed that seemed to draw you in. Avis couldn't quite describe it any better than that.

But if she wasn't going to give in to him, then he'd just have to go about his other plans to destroy Osborn and his pathetic company. Would've been the icing on the cake if he'd gotten the boys alluring girlfriend as well, but he supposed one couldn't have everything.

The loony lass would have to pay for her insolence as well for having assaulted him so rudely though… couldn't have her thinking she'd won this round; even if she had. No, he was quite sure it was time to check back in with Dr. Warren to see what she'd cooked up for him.

The deranged doctor was bound to have something by now, since he'd given her enough time to do so. And when he had it, whatever it was, he'd finally exact his vengeance upon that simpering brat and his little girlfriend too!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LoL My version of the Vulture is a bit twisted, I know. This version of him was inspired by the one from "Spider-Man: The Animated Series" who could absorb youth and go back between being Arthur Avis and Adrian Toomes,.


	40. Neogenic Nightmare

"NO!" Arthur Avis cried angrily as he kicked at the charred remains of the burnt body at his feet. He had gotten sick of getting a busy signal when he tried to call Dr. Warren.

And so had gone down himself to her hidden lab to see what was taking so long, where he found her lab; which had been completely trashed, and what appeared to be her charred dead body lying on the ground that had been burned, along with most of the room before the sprinklers could put it out.

All her papers were now useless ashes in a pile, along with the smashed computer that joined them. The insane scientists remains shattered like brittle spun sugar under his feet. Or at least, he _thought_ they were hers.

It was impossible to make out who the charcoal corpse belonged to; even if it did appear feminine. And after all these hang-ups and failures, and the way he was pretty sure the sneaky madwoman had been planning something devious of her own, he didn't have the time nor care to check.

In a way he was glad to be rid of her. She was such a stuck-up, man hating bitch. Sure she was useful in a way, but the woman was far from irreplaceable in his mind. If he needed to, he would check into such matters later. Right now he had his own agenda.

Avis gave a growl before turning abruptly to see if he could find anything helpful. Whoever had been here though, and murdered the woman or whoever it was, had obviously been quite intent on making sure her work didn't see the light of day. Or at least that there was no evidence left to find.

But if there was one thing he knew to be true, it was that Dr. Warren always kept backups hidden around the lab. And he knew of one place in particular to check. He moved her work desk aside and pulled away the rug underneath it.

Under it was a panel that blended in very well with the floor that he lifted up. It revealed a floor safe. Seeing as he had been the one to build the lab, it was only natural he knew where all the good hiding places were, as well as how to open them.

He unlocked the safe with the combination he made sure to memorize in case he had to get into it for some reason, and opened it up. Inside, it was refrigerated and where she kept a few of her serums, one of which he himself used to maintain his youthful appearance.

It also had a black box with an external hard drive in it; all of which he took. He wondered if it held the formula for her youth serum, and immediately emptied out the contents. But as he was walking towards the exit, he turned to look at the fridge that she normally kept her vials of serum in.

The front of the case was shattered and there was a little blood staining the bits of glass that remained. It didn't look harmed by the flames, and he couldn't help wondering if perhaps someone had been here before him…

Well, he could investigate further later. For now, he needed to handle his Osborn problem and he'd do it himself. Seeing as everyone else kept failing at what he thought was so simple a task. If Dr. Warren hadn't been so obsessed with whatever it was she'd been trying to accomplish, then perhaps she'd still be alive.

He supposed it wasn't much of a loss though. Even as his older self, he could figure out her youth formula all by himself if he wanted to. And he hurried back to his own workshop to concoct his new plans.

Back in his own private laboratory at Toomes Aeronautics, Arthur had just given himself another does of youth serum after having spent quite a bit of time combing through the data on the HDD.

It would seem the deceased doctor had discovered a way to make some sort of super soldier serum that could enhance you in various ways depending on what you needed, using animal DNA.

For example: it could give you the eyesight of a cat or bird, or the keen hearing or sense of smell of a dog, or replicate missing limbs like a lizard, and so on and so forth. It was quite a fascinating find he thought.

But what caught his interest the most was the curious decelerated aging via an avian serum she had developed, when it was combined with the youth serum. _'That could prove promising.'_ The youth greedy man thought.

He went to open up the box of serums Dr. Warren had made and found a few of the ones from her notes for various animals. There was one vial missing, but that didn't matter. He already knew which one he wanted to use.

Plucking up the one with the picture of a bird on it ever so carefully, and then mixing it accordingly with the youth serum as her notes directed, he eagerly fetched a device with which to inject himself with. After all, the doctor had mentioned what success she'd had with the serum in her notes, so what could possibly go wrong?

How unfortunate Avis would find himself to know that Dr. Warren hadn't had time to write down what had taken place not long after her "self treatment"… But he would discover that the hard way.

The overeager fool injected the avian serum into his veins; feeling the strangest sensation of hot and cold at the same time, as it flowed through his bloodstream. After a few seconds, he began to feel different.

As if he was becoming a whole new person. He flexed his hands and fingers; feeling as if his body was becoming lighter. Taking it slow, he went about running tests on himself for the next few days.

His eyesight had improved beyond his expectations. Some physical tests showed that not only could he see with startling clarity now, but that his agility, balance, reflexes and even lung capacity had been remarkably enhanced!

Everything seemed to be going so perfectly! At least until Avis, or rather, Adrian, had been enjoying his youthful form while getting in a little exercise, when he began turning back into his older self.

"What?!" He exclaimed sharply as he got up and hurried over to a full length mirror to see what was going on. "No… NO! This can't be happening! It's too soon!" Adrian cried out hysterically.

He glanced at his wrist watch and found that for some strange reason, the serums effects were wearing off despite the fact that he had only just taken his usual dose less than an hour ago.

A sharp pain shot through him and he had to reach out and lean against the mirror for support. It struck him again and again with quicker and more agonizing secession. It felt like his body was being torn apart from the inside out and his bones were being broken and hollowed out.

His fingers clenched against the cool, glassy surface when he felt it crack. The vain mans eyes widened when he saw his fingers had been replaced with razor-sharp looking talons!

He lifted his other hand to his face to examine the front and back of it, as he fell to his knees in increasing pain and panic, while his mind tried to figure out what on Earth was happening to him.

But all thought ceased as his body continued to change. Dark and light green feathers began sprouting up all over his skin, while his bones cracked and bent to give him a more birdlike appearance.

The businessman could barely manage the few screams he did he was in such torment. But it was nighttime, and he was all alone from having sent his butler home for the night. So no one heard him or came to help. Which what with the mans reputation, no one probably would anyway.

The torture became too much, and he eventually blacked out. But when he awoke, Adrian Toomes gathered himself, up feeling remarkably better and having thought the whole incident had been a bad dream.

But upon looking in the slightly cracked mirror again, was he proven very, VERY wrong. The thing that looked back at him was a monstrosity that even his own dark and twisted mind could've never conceived.

The creature was bald with pale, grayish pasty looking skin and had blood red eyes, and the long beak of a nose that had a red pointy tip. All in all, this beast looked like a humanoid vulture with emerald plumage mixed with a darker shade around the wings, wrists and ankles, and a black ruffle of feathers around its neck.

What horrified him the most, was that this so-called creature staring back at him with the same expression…. Was himself! Adrian angrily punched the mirror in his outrage and letting out a scream that sounded like a vultures cry.

The sound came out in a sonic burst; breaking what remained of the glass of the mirror, as well as decimating the windows in the gym room. He blinked; finding himself taken aback when he surveyed what he had just done, before looking at his claw-like hand and saw that it didn't have any cuts.

Apparently there was much more to this bird form than he thought. For one thing, it made him more durable. And as his curiosity began to grow, did Adrian begin to move around and get a feel for his new body. He felt remarkably lighter and stronger, despite being his elderly self.

He even flexed out his wings. They appeared to work as wings should. The wings were probably what fascinated him the most; as he had always loved to fly planes and wondered what it might be like to soar through the skies like the birds did.

And after taking out his new body for a test run, or flight rather, the sly old buzzard began smirking darkly to himself. Now he had the means to destroy Harry Osborn and anyone else who got in his way once and for all!

The best part being that no one would even be able to tell who he was in this form, or so he thought. So he could get away with it too! It didn't take him long to figure out what he wanted to do or what pseudonym he would take for himself in this form.

What was it that fiery flower had called him again…? Oh yes… _Vulture_. That was what he would call himself, and that would forever be the name he'd carve into the ravishing ravenettes mind, as he taught both her and that Osborn brat that he was not a man to be trifled with.

Vulture went about getting well used to his powers before making a few arrangements and figuring out where his first victims were. And when all was set, the genetically altered man dove out one of the busted windows to act out his plans. The vile villain cackled with maniacal mirth as he soared swiftly and stealthily off into the night in search of his prey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title inspired by the episode from "Spider-Man: The Animated Series".
> 
> I figured I'd add the fun aspects of the Vulture from the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon series. I thought it was pretty awesome how he could change forms. X3


End file.
